


I told our story to the stars (and that was the first time I saw them cry)

by blue_dragonfly



Series: Watching Their Future, Present, and Past [4]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Original Work
Genre: BAMF Draco Malfoy, BAMF Hermione Granger, Blaise Zabini is a Good Friend, Characters Watching Harry Potter Movies, Draco Malfoy Has a Sibling, F/F, F/M, Good Draco Malfoy, Good Slytherins, Hogwarts Inter-House Friendships, Hufflepuff Pride, M/M, Matchmaker Pansy Parkinson, Multi, Oblivious Harry Potter, Out of Character Draco Malfoy, POV Original Female Character, Pansy Parkinson is a Good Friend, Pining Draco Malfoy, Pining Harry, Ravenclaw Pride, Redeemed Draco Malfoy, Ron Weasley is a Good Friend, Slytherin Pride, Slytherins Being Slytherins, The Golden Trio
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-26
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:28:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 24,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22418497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blue_dragonfly/pseuds/blue_dragonfly
Summary: - I still believethere is right timefor everything,even us -Cassiopeia Malfoy was used to the glares and insults at her as she walked to class, to the great hall, to the eighth year common room, even to the bathroom. She knew her brother was still trying, more used to people bowing down at him than spitting at his shoes. But she thought that finally Draco was understanding that no matter how hard he wished, Slytherins were never going to get to share their side of the story. She had learnt that a long time ago.But now everything was changing when a mysterious person by the name Samantha shares some CDs that show the past seven years at Hogwarts. Cassiopeia almost thinks she’s safe when she hears it’s in the perspective of Harry Potter to only find out Samantha has footage of all the houses too that she edited in. Which means the Slytherins super secret secrets could be uncovered, like missions and lies and personas and opinions and… feelings.And none of this would of happened if she hadn’t done that stupid dare.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy & Original Female Character(s), Draco Malfoy & Pansy Parkinson & Blaise Zabini, Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter, Hannah Abbot/Millicent Bulstrode, Hannah Abbott & Susan Bones & Justin Finch-Fletchley & Ernie Macmillan, Hermione Granger & Harry Potter & Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger/Pansy Parkinson, Luna Lovegood/Ginny Weasley, Marcus Flint/Percy Weasley/Oliver Wood, Millicent Bulstrode & Tracey Davis & Daphne Greengrass & Draco Malfoy & Theodore Nott, Neville Longbottom & Luna Lovegood & Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom/Theodore Nott, Original Female Character/Original Female Character, Padma Patil & Parvati Patil, Ron Weasley/Blaise Zabini, Seamus Finnigan & Neville Longbottom & Harry Potter & Dean Thomas & Ron Weasley, Seamus Finnigan/Dean Thomas, Susan Bones/Daphne Greengrass, Terry Boot & Michael Corner & Anthony Goldstein, slytherin students & original female characters
Series: Watching Their Future, Present, and Past [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1220021
Comments: 18
Kudos: 92





	1. hell is empty and all the devils are here

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! Wow, I've been posting new works like crazy. That will soon come and bite me in the butt. Anyway, here are some notes for this book:
> 
> \- This is not related to any of my other harry potter books
> 
> \- Cassiopeia is Draco's twin sister, my OC
> 
> \- Draco is my fave and so is slytherin so it is very slytherin centric and all of them are ooc but i also have ravenclaw and hufflepuff stuff too!
> 
> \- this is a watching their harry potter movies book but with small parts that aren't in the movie of slytherin, hufflepuff and ravenclaw (this will change the movies and how slytherins are seen) this clippets will not change anything that happens in the movies
> 
> \- the only thing I will change is that ginny x harry does not happen in the movies i show but it is just a brother/sister relationship 
> 
> \- im not sure yet if draco and cassiopeia will be metamorphagus or veela or animagus or anything else but i will tell you later on if it changes (so far they are none of them)
> 
> \- this is drarry endgame and so are all the other relationships (so bascially all canon relationships are not canon in this)
> 
> \- i hope you enjoy and if you have any questions, please comment them
> 
> Leave kudos and bookmark!!!!! :)))
> 
> Gabby

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> \- chemisty between people  
> is the strangest  
> science of all -
> 
> Cassiopeia gets dared to steal someone else's owl. It's okay though, she has Draco with her and she has snuck out loads of times before. She is worrying though because a) Pansy could of done much worse (so why didn't she?) b) she accidentally stole Potter's owl and c) Flinch is after them which only ever ends one way- in detention.
> 
> This was not how she was expecting the night to go.

Sitting on the edge of the shore, my feet splashing in the lake. Fish jumped up and down and I laughed as one sprayed me with water. The cold was refreshing since it was late summer, the end of September. The Great Lake frightened people, the unknown beneath the surface, the creatures hiding that no person would ever see. But, if you had grown up next to it for seven years, waking up to seeing mermaids and small sharks next to your window, then the lake was just another place wizards had yet to explore. 

The mermaids enchanted me and learning sign language to communicate with them was one of the quickest things I have learned. I longed to know their secrets and because of some bored kid who had patience and smarts, we now could. My brother along with our friends learnt the language to keep the tradition alive. It’s been an ongoing rumour if the mermaids can be communicated with, so far everyone thinks its false and we’re not going to tell them if it is or not. 

Rays of light blind me and I sigh. Once the sun begins to set is when I know it’s time to go. I don’t want to be caught out at night. I wave goodbye to the fish and trudge up the hill to Hogwarts, hoping to find my brother on the way. Students immediately make a path for me, not wanting to talk to a Slytherin like me. We made an impression on them and I sometimes feel like it was the wrong one. 

Because of this, we are probably the closest house but we had no allies except for a few Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws and now after the war, we have no one. The Gryffindors haven’t tried to become friends with us and I don’t blame them. It annoys me because I’m not evil or mean and neither is my brother or our friends. We just had to wear a mask to satisfy our parents and act like the children they wanted us to be, cruel with no emotions and with no imperfections. 

As I walk past, scattered Slytherins, younger students, latch to my side. Slytherins now have to walk in groups of no less than three people unless you actually want to get beaten up by someone. Me and my brother, though, are usually the ones picked on most but being the eldest we have more safety because no one hits someone in front of a younger student. This makes us magnets to other Slytherins who need protection. My brother lets only a few others join him on his strolls but I don’t mind if there is a crowd around me, as long as everyone is safe. 

In reality, my brother would be the same if he wasn’t scared someone would report him to our parents. He’s fine in the Slytherin common room because everyone else is going through something similar but outside, he has some enemies that wouldn’t mind going through the extra effort to send a letter to our parents. Even after the war, my parents still think they are right, especially father but I think our mother will change soon. And now with the whole new 8th-year common room, my brother doesn’t really have anywhere where he can be himself. 

I have never been the main concern of our parents before. Of course, they wanted me to behave and get good grades but if I chatted with a Hufflepuff, I would get a warning. But if my brother did, he would get letters and letters and maybe a howler and once we got home, he might even get a beating, depends on how serious my brother acted out. I know that my brother sometimes took whippings for me and it frightens me. They did this because he was the heir to both the Black and the Malfoy and I was female while he was male, the Malfoy line will continue on his end while mine it would not. 

I stop thinking about that and as I gaze up, a head of platinum blonde hair, almost identical to mine except mine is darker, catches my eye so I jog to catch up with him, “Hey Dray, where are you heading to?” 

He turns his head to me and a large black eye stares back at me and I wince, “Oh. Weasley again?” 

Draco rolls his eyes, “Do you really think I would start a fight with them after the war? No, it was some Ravenclaw who blames me for their uncle dying. Couldn’t even put up a fight because if I did, I would be expelled.” 

I give him a side hug, “Because they knew you would win if they didn’t threaten you with expulsion.” 

“And that.” A smug look on his face as he probably recalls fights in the past he won. 

We stroll up to the 8th year common room together, the other Slytherins leave us to make their way to the dungeons. We make a few jokes here and there until we reach the painting. I’m about to say the password ‘lemon tarts’ when it swings open and Potter, Weasley and Granger exit. I’m not exactly sure why I use their last names because I never really spoke to them. I once asked Granger for help with a Transfiguration essay because no one else was around and she glared at me away so maybe that's why. 

“Malfoy.” Weasley sneers, already angry with us though we haven’t even looked at them. 

Draco nods, “Good afternoon Weasley, Granger,” He glances at Potter, “Potter.” 

Potter peers up at Draco and his eyes widen as he looks at the nasty black eye, “What happened, Malfoy?” 

Draco looks down his nose at him, “That’s none of your business, Potter.” 

Weasley glares and is about to challenge Draco when Granger sees me holding the painting open and says, “Only 8th years are allowed in there.” 

I roll my eyes, “Thanks for that random information.” 

Weasley scoffs, “She means you can’t go in, Slytherin.” 

My eyes widen, not sure how he knew my house when I remember that our new robes have all the Hogwarts houses on them but the inside is your house colour. Slytherin green is already bright so you can easily tell who’s Slytherin. No hiding here. Draco catches my pause so he speaks up for me, his voice clear. 

“She’s an 8th year Weasley, can’t you see that she has all the houses on her robe, unlike the younger years,” Draco points at the little picture on my robes. 

Potter raises his eyebrows, “Oh, did you transfer here? I’ve never seen you around.” 

I snicker, “Of course you wouldn’t notice me. I just so happened to be in your Potions class and Charms class for seven years.” 

The trio blush but Granger recovers quickly, “So, what’s your name?” 

I peek a bit at Draco and he shrugs, which means I can tell them my full name, “I’m Cassiopeia Malfoy.” 

“Malfoy? You’re related?” Weasley makes a disgusted face when I nod. 

“Are you like cousins?” Potter questions but I grasp Draco’s arm, “Well, look at the time. Let's go Draco.” 

Granger goes to say something but Draco steps in behind me and I slam the portrait. I sigh and Draco gives me a pat on the shoulder. Not the first time we were questioned about our relation or the first time I was questioned about what year I am in. I still haven’t lost my baby fat on my cheeks so I look younger than I should. Most people would dye to look younger but I only look immature. 

I see Blaise, Pansy, Theo and Daphne sitting in a corner at a table, hiding away from everyone else but not like they had a choice. Everyone else has filled the couches and sofas since it’s Saturday. I turn to glance at Draco but hiss as the bright light from the windows that enters my eyes. I will never get used to having so much light in the common room. The Slytherin dormitories are underneath the lake so we didn’t get much natural light. 

We wave at them and the two of us sat down next to the other four. Pansy looks up from her book and gasps as she sees Draco, “Oh my goodness, what happened to you?! I swear I’m going to find them and hunt them down and-” 

Blaise rests a hand on her shoulder, “Slow down there Pans, we should probably treat Draco’s eye first. Plus, it’s not like this is the first time this has happened.” 

Pansy sighs and gives Draco a kiss on his forehead like I remember mother used to do when we were kids. Daphne smiles kindly and waves us off, pointing at Theo who is deep into his book and then at her own book which she has almost finished. We understand that she and Theo are going to stay there until they’re done so we trudge up the stairs to Draco’s shared room with Blaise and Theo. 

I hadn’t told Draco this but I had heard a rumour that someone heard the teachers discussing putting Potter and Draco in the same room but Severus’s portrait had swung by and pointed out that the two had been through a lot and didn’t need the other annoying them. Headmistress McGonagall and Dumbledore had argued against that but in the end, they sided with Severus. I couldn’t imagine what Draco would have done if that happened. 

The door opens and I step in and immediately laugh at Draco’s side of the room compared to the others. Theo has his all neat except he has books and quills everywhere, Blaise’s is all tidy and Draco has his bed made nicely but his clothes are thrown everywhere and it's all a mess. Draco glared at me while the Pansy also judges his side and Blaise gets out the emergency kit from out of the bathroom. 

I take out some cloth and Pansy hands me a cooling pack. I wrap the cloth around it and Blaise sets a cooling charm on it and I pass it over to Draco. He presses it against his eye and he cringes at the cold and the pressure against his bruise. I give my brother a side hug which he leans into. Underneath all his emotionless masks, my brother just wants love and is a big sap. The other two join us and we sit on the bed like this for a while until Daphne and Theo turn up along with Millicent, Greg and Vincent. We welcome them in and we sit in a large circle. 

Vincent sees Draco and his face is red with fury, “Who did that to you?!” 

Draco rolls his eyes, grimacing, “Some student maybe in 6th year.” 

Greg holds up his fist, “I will definitely beat that kid up.” 

Millicent lifts her own hand, “Someone is about to get slapped.” 

“Don't,” I say, “we can’t attract attention to ourselves.” 

The rest nod, Draco adding, “Plus, this happens all the time, I don’t care anymore.” 

Vincent raises his hands above his head in outrage, “That makes it even worse!” 

Greg shakes his head and stops Vincent from going any further. He turns and smiles at Draco, “Well, we’re here for you mate.” 

“And my offer still stands.” Millicent grins at him, holding her hand up. 

Draco grins and then Pansy beams up, “I’ve got an idea!” 

Blaise and Theo groan but Daphne brightens up, “Alright then, share it.” 

She leans in real close and whispers, “Truth or dare.” 

Boos echo across the room and Pansy crosses her arms over her chest and huffs, “Well, if you’re going to rudely veto my idea, then what other ideas do you have?” 

“We can play spin the bottle?” Millie asks innocently. 

I almost barfed on the floor, “Not if we want a repeat of last year.” 

Everyone shivers at that and we try and think of more ideas. Daphne speaks up, “What about Never Have I Ever?” 

Draco laughs, “Well that’s stupid because we already know everything about each other.” 

I nodded, “It would be better with more people.” 

“What, more Slytherins?” Pansy asks. 

“No,” I shake my head, “like other houses.” 

Theo ponders, “Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws are out because I don’t think they would want to play with us. Ravenclaws don’t seem like the party type and neither do the Hufflepuffs. Which leaves… the Gryffindors.” 

“Yeah, no,” Blaise says. 

I shrug, “They would be more fun than the other houses.” 

“One flaw though, they hate us.” Draco points out. 

We all sigh, only in a perfect world would Gryffindors and Slytherins like each other. Pansy won out of all the others for game ideas so Truth or Dare it is. Pansy is the first to go because she thought of the game. She grins and rubs her hands together, grinning evilly, “Ok, Cass, truth or dare?” 

I gulp. This could go two ways: if I said Truth, she would make me spill about my not so secret crush on this girl in Gryffindor which I don’t want to talk about to her and if I said Dare, it would probably have to do with her or some stupid dare that results in me going out. I decide the second one is better because Draco would always help me if it was something I didn’t want to do. “Dare.” 

She smirks and I know I’ve chosen the wrong one, “I dare you to sneak up to the Astronomy tower and kidnap an owl.” 

“What!” I yell in outrage, “The owls will notice me and start making noise and I’ll get caught.” 

Theo rolls his eyes, “Not if you stun the owl and then carry it back.” 

Draco shrugs, “That is like the stupidest solution to that problem but whatever.” 

Greg pats my shoulder, “Just do it, if you leave a bunch of treats after the kidnap, it won’t mind, hopefully,” He looks over at Vincent, “Do owls have anything against us Slytherins?” Vincent shrugs and we all roll our eyes, most owls don’t care but there are some that are picky. I’ll just have to pick the right one. 

I sigh in defeat and pick my wand off the nightstand, tucking it into my robes. I push myself off the floor and I am about to leave when Draco grasps my wrist, “Wait, I’m coming with you.” 

I was puzzled but Draco continued, “You will need a lookout. We’re Slytherins, if you get in trouble, that’s detention for you for the rest of the year. I’ll come so you’re not by yourself.” 

I glance at Pansy to make sure that’s allowed and she nods, huffing, knowing Draco’s logic is correct. Draco and I smile at each other, our hands intertwined together as we exit. I can spot some treats stuck in one of Draco’s pockets but I don’t ask when he got them. We make sure to tread lightly but it’s not something new to us, we did live in a house with Death Eaters for two years. 

There are a few 8th years in the common room but we go unnoticed, no one cares about us or what we do anyway. I push the painting open and the two of us step out. The stairway is lit up with a few lanterns but not bright enough for people to see us. We stride down the stairs in silence, skipping any of the purposely squeaky stair steps that alert teacher or students of you going down. The hallways are deserted at this time, only one or two students out who are either prefects or have detention. Our blonde hair stood out but one quick glance at the green on our ropes made people immediately look the other way. It was a curse and a blessing. 

We reached the area where the owls were and I survey the owls. Draco stands guard at the entrance as I ponder, which one? I could be boring and pick one of our friend’s owls like the sandy yellow owl named Sierra was Susan Bones’ owl but I feel like Pansy would be disappointed if I went all this way to not have some fun. So, I slowly creep up to a white snowy owl and hold my arm out. Surprisingly, it flies up and lands on it but I quickly stun it and catch it in my arms. 

“Got one,” I tell Draco and his eyes widen. 

His voice shakes as he points at the owl, “Put the owl back.” 

My head tilts, “Why?” 

“That’s Potter’s owl,” He says and I gasp. I fumble for my wand but before I can cast the reversal spell, I hear footsteps going up the steps and a loud meow echoes throughout the tower. 

Bright red eyes appear at the top of the stairs and a hiss escapes the cat’s mouth. I immediately recognize the cat, Mrs Norris, as makes her way towards us. She hissed at me, obviously not over the incident in her first year. I tried to feed her cat treat but they were bird pellets and she got sick for weeks. Now she hated me which is why I never went on any of Draco’s adventures because she was out for my blood. Luckily no one ever retraced the bird pellets back to me so Flinch didn’t seem to think the hatred his cat felt for me was more than a coincidence. 

I could hear Flinch’s voice down on the stairs, all mumbled, but both Draco and I could tell it was him. We shared a look before Draco was beckoning me towards the back stairs. I shimmied over to him, trying not to make any noise and as I reached the stairs, I didn’t care anymore and just ran at full speed down the stairs, Draco following behind me. It wasn’t until I reached the bottom that I realised the owl was still tucked underneath my arm. 

“Shoot!” I yelled, almost dropping the owl in my arm. 

My brother tries to shush me but it’s too late, Flinch must have heard our footsteps going down the back stairs because Mrs Norris was at our feet, Flinch coming down the stairs. My face flushes and I hide the owl behind my back as Flinch stalks over to us. 

He glances at us, “Well, well, well, who do we have here. The Malfoy twins. Thought you would know not to get into trouble after the war happened. Let’s see what Dumbledore has to say, hm?” 

The walk to the headmaster’s office is longer than I remembered probably because of embarrassment and feeling like she is back in first year, getting dragged by Flinch to Dumbledore. They pass a few students who all had hall passes and prefects, all of them smirking at us as we passed with Flinch, obviously happy that the Slytherin’s got caught. 

We finally reach the golden phoenix and Flinch mutters, “Sugar pops.” 

The bird turns and allows us to enter. I drag my feet inside as Flinch grabs my brother’s arm and opens the headmaster's door, shoving us both into the doorway. I’m staring at my feet now, not wanting to meet Dumbledore’s eyes but a different voice reaches my ears. 

“Malfoy?” 

It’s Potter, of course, and I just had to be holding a stunned owl that happened to be Potter’s owl. He doesn’t see it because it’s still behind my back but I can feel my hands get all sweaty. 

Flinch speaks, “I caught these two in the Astronomy Tower, doing what I don’t know.” 

Dumbledore dismisses him and he leaves after that while Dumbledore smiles at us, making my hair stand up, “Mr and Ms Malfoy, please sit down,” I sneak a look at Draco who just motions for me to sit down, telling me it’s safe to. Dumbledore passes a bowl to me and Draco, “Lemon drop?” 

I shake my head along with Draco. I nervously shuffle in my seat, Potter sitting on the other end with Draco on the armchair. It seems now that Draco notices the owl next to me that I’m trying to hide behind my body. 

“Well, I was just talking to Mr Potter about how the 8th year common room is going. Now-” Dumbledore is interrupted by Potter, staring at the owl that is half covered by my back. 

“Is that my owl?” At Potter’s voice, the owl shifts and Draco mutters a reverse spell underneath his breath, a wandless one which I never was good at. The owl flies over to Potter, hooting, “Hedwig! Why do you have my owl?” 

Draco goes to answer but I beat him to it, the words spilling out of my mouth before I could stop, “We got dared to go to the Astronomy Tower and steal an owl and your owl just liked me so I stunned it but then Flinch came and I forgot about your owl and yeah.” 

Potter glared but Dumbledore just clapped his hands together, “Well, since you are all here, I have an announcement.” 

He stands up and goes over to his desk and rummages through a drawer before pulling a folder out. He drops it on the table in front of us and sits down. Dumbledore nods towards me for me to open it up so I do. Inside is a letter with seven CDs. Curiously I picked up the letter and unfold it, clearing my throat so I could read it out loud: 

“ _Dear Mr Dumbledore,_

_I hope this letter finds you in good company. My name is Samantha but you do not know me since I am not a person, I am a seer of all and my job is to fix things I see by showing people the past and future. This is one of those timelines and so I have sent this letter to you with seven CDs. I am not sure how to say this but on those CD’s are the seven years of Hogwarts in the perspective of a boy named Harry Potter._

_I was not impressed with the footage, however, since it was very biased so I also added footage from other houses as well. Your part in this to show this letter to three people, Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy and Cassiopeia Malfoy. They will bring all the students listed below to the Great Hall where a projection screen is there. You can show the CDs on there._

I must warn that this may bring up old memories and feelings but hopefully, the end result will be worth it. If anything goes wrong, do not hesitate to call out my name and I will appear as a ghost-like figure. 

_Yours,_

 _Samantha._ ” 

I flip to the second page, “And then there’s a list of students who are to go to the great hall.” 

Draco frowns, “Why us though?” 

“And why are the CD’s about me?” Potter asked, the most clueless person in the world. 

My brother rolled his eyes, “Um, maybe, because you’re the chosen one and literally the seven years at Hogwarts were only about you.” 

Potter huffed but didn’t say anything more. Dumbledore sighed, “Well, now that you know, tomorrow your job is to gather up all the students on this list and get them in the great hall at eleven. Classes for the week are cancelled for the students on the list.” 

“Wait,” I say, “All of us?” 

He nods, “Yes, all three of you can.” 

My brother groans and so does Potter. I shake my hand at them, “We got through a war, I think we can do this.” 

Draco gets out of the chair and hurries me out of the room as Dumbledore grins behind us. I can already tell I’ll regret this. Potter follows out as well, Hedwig on his arm, and neither of the boys does anything, just glaring at each other so I speak up. 

“Well, see you tomorrow at nine Potter. Don’t be late.” I then walk off, smirking as I hear Draco mumble a “Bye, Potter.” before trailing behind me, leaving Potter in the dust. 

Tomorrow’s going to be one crazy day.


	2. in the end, even stars choose destruction over life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> \- even in my dreams  
> my eyes  
> keep searching  
> for you -
> 
> Cassiopeia has to gather a bunch of people on a list along with Potter and her brother. It seems simple expect for the fact that all their carefully built walls around their secrets don't seem to be as strong anymore and that her brother needs to stop pining over Potter. It's ridiculous. 
> 
> Oh, and Dumbledore is definitely up to something.

The sun shined through the windows of my dorm, causing me to open my eyes. The other girls in my dorm, Pansy, Daphne and Millicent, were still asleep so I swung my legs over the side of the bed and stood up. my vision blurred for a second before I gained my balance and it turned back to normal. I looked around for my wand and once I found it, I cast _‘tempus’_ to see the time. It was eight in the morning, which meant I had another my hour until I had to meet my brother and Potter at the great hall. 

I probably had to go wake my brother up now or else he will never be ready in time. Exiting the room, I made sure to close the door behind me softly and then made my way down the stairs and up the stairs to the boy’s side. All the Gryffindors had been surprised to see they had not been forced back down when going up the opposite gender’s stairs and even more shocked to hear none of the other houses, not even Slytmyin, had the same rule. I found it stupid because that didn’t stop homosexuality happening. 

Knocking on Draco’s dorm room, I waited outside while I heard some shuffling going on inside. I expected Blaise to open the door since he was usually the first one up but it was my brother instead. He was half-dressed, only his pants on, and his hair was a mess. Cassiopeia never got used to the fact that my brother was actually hot, like with abs and everything. I could say that though because I was a full-on lesbian so even if they weren’t related, he wouldn’t be my type. 

“What if it hadn’t been me knocking and it was some other my house and they saw you shirtless?” I asked, teasing him. 

He rolled his eyes, “Please like anyone else is going to knock on an ex-death eater’s door.” 

I laughed, “They would if they knew you were this hot.” 

“Ew,” Draco cringes, “It’s bad coming from Pansy, but from my sister, it’s just disgusting. Never say that again.” 

I shrug, “Sorry.” 

He welcomes me in and Blaise waves from his bed where he is reading some book for some reason. Theo is in the bed across from Blaise’s in the far right corner sleeping, slight snores coming from him. I hear Draco mutter a wandless ‘ _muffliato’_ and I let him drag me to his large wardrobe that he complained about for ten minutes to me because he had to share with Blaise and Theo and their fashion senses clashed with his. 

“Okay,” He says, “Should I wear this blue shirt or this green shirt? See the blue brings out my eyes but I look great in green.” 

I raise an eyebrow, “Why are you getting this worried? We’re just going to meet Pot- oh! You have a crush!” 

He flusters, his face going bright red, “What? Noooooo.” 

I roll my eyes, “I’m not dumb, Dray. Don’t worry your secret's safe with me. Also, wear blue, you never wear blue.” 

My brother smiles at me, engulfing me in a hug before shooing me off to get ready myself. This is when I realise I’m still wearing my pyjamas and that since last night I failed my dare technically because I didn’t bring back an owl, Pansy chose what I had to wear to bed which happened to be a dragon onesie from Draco’s closet. It was two sizes too big so I could flap the sleeves around and hit people. I also realised I had just walked through the common room in my onesie and now I had to go back through the common room to get to my dorm. 

I cast another _‘tempus’_ and saw the time was eight-fifteen and breakfast started at eight and went until ten which meant there would be people in the common room now. Sighing, accepting my fate, I opened the door and stepped out into the hallway and made my way down the stairs, knowing very well that if someone saw me it would look like I spent the night in the boy’s dorm. It was something I couldn’t escape but luckily I had the upper hand, my lesbian card always shut people up. 

Sally-Anne was on one of the couches and when she looked up at me, she giggled, “Nice onesie, Cass.” 

I rolled my eyes at her but waved goodbye when I walked up the stairs to the girl’s dormitories. Sally-Anne, Susan, Hannah and I had been good friends since second year when our timetables changed and we had herbology with the Hufflepuffs. They were understanding, not caring I was a Slytherin or a Malfoy, and sometimes when I met up with them, I dragged Draco along and they were welcoming. We brought out the other sides of each other, I showed my caring side while the puffs showed their badass side which I loved seeing. They really knew how to sass people. 

Granger was there at the end of the hallway with the two Patil’s. All four of them eyed my choice of clothing, Granger confused while the other three disgusted. I didn’t mind since the onesie was super comfy and I was imagining hitting them with my sleeves if they were closer to me. 

I walk into my dorm to see Daphne searching through our shared wardrobe and Pansy sitting on the floor painting her toenails with maroon nail polish. She glances up at me and bursts into laughter at my onesie and then quietens down and continues to paint her toenails. I frown, not seeing Millie until I spotted a large lump in the bed across from mine on the right. I roll my eyes, of course, she’s still asleep. 

Daphne holds out a cute white dress with yellow daisies and green leaves on it, “Would this dress look good underneath my robes?” 

Pansy stares at it, tilting her head before nodding slowly, “Yes, I think it will. I was planning on wearing that yellow and white shirt with maroon pants and maroon high heels.” 

The two of them look at me, waiting for me to tell them what I’m going to wear today. I walk over to the closet and forage through my side of clothes. I decide on a white shirt tank top with lace, a blue and white plaid skirt and a blue cardigan. I show it to the girls and they smile, liking my outfit. I pick out a necklace with the Cassiopeia constellation on it that my brother, Draco got me. I had gotten him one as well, with the Draco constellation on it and he never took it off, wearing it underneath his robes. 

I quickly change in the bathroom, brushing my teeth and hair while I’m at it. Finally, I spray perfume on myself before stepping out, posing for my friends. Daphne is dressed as well, who had gone into the walk-in wardrobe to change. She beams and does a spin for me and bounces her hip against mine. I look around and ask, “Where’s Pansy?” 

She rolls her eyes, “Pans thought you were taking “too long” so she went over to Tracey’s room to use their bathroom.” 

“But they have five people in their dorm, one more than us, they don’t need another person,” I say because Tracey shared a room with Sally, Jessica and Emily. 

Daphne laughs, “That’s exactly what I said.” 

We laugh together before I point at Millicent, still fast asleep in her bed, snoring. “Shouldn’t we wake her up,” I question, feeling bad if we just leave her sleeping. 

The other girl is about to answer when the dormitory door slams open, Pansy standing there in her outfit with slight curls in her hair, “I know, I know, I look amazing.” 

Daphne and I laugh again at Pansy’s antics, not realising we were so loud until we hear a groan followed by a thud and another groan. I turned around to see Millicent on the floor by her bed, wrapped in blankets, obviously just fallen out of bed. Daph gasps and rushes over to help her up while Pansy and I keep laughing, myself almost falling over from all the laughter. 

Millie stands up and places her blanket on her bed, sending a glare our way, before hurrying off into the wardrobe to get ready for the day. I don’t have time to go and help her or apologize because there is a knock at the door. Pansy, who I just noticed was holding a bag of makeup, tightens her grip on it, “If that’s you, Jess, I’m not giving you back your makeup. The colours in your eyeshadow go with my outfit perfectly and if you think I won’t risk our friendship for the perfect outfit then you are wrong.” 

I hear a laugh from outside that sounds too manly for a girl so I open it up, Pans going to the back windows, looking like she is ready to jump out the window if it means keeping the makeup. Standing there is not Jessica but Draco, wearing the blue shirt I told him to wear and grey pants with a maroon tie. I sense Pansy calming down, huffing before stalking off to the bathroom, probably to do her makeup. 

“What are you doing?” I ask, confused but Draco just casts a _‘tempus’_ which shows me the time is eight fifty-five. My eyes widen, how did time fly so fast? 

I tell Draco to give me a minute before searching for a pair of blue high-tops and socks. I pull on the socks and then the shoes, trying to tie my shoelaces as quickly as possible because I can hear my brother tapping his foot impatiently. I roll my eyes but I search around for my blue handbag that I sling over my shoulder before waving goodbye to Daphne who was sitting on her bed. 

“Let’s go, don’t want to keep Potter waiting, hm?” I say, smirking when I see Draco’s cheeks go bright red, elbowing me in the side. 

We stroll down the girl’s stairs and through the common room and out the picture hanging on the wall of some random person I can’t remember the name of. Together we walk down the stairs to the main floor, where we were supposed to meet Potter. Surprisingly, he’s already there, as Draco says, “You can see his unruly mess of a hair from anywhere.” but unsurprisingly, he’s not alone. Next to him are the Weasel and Granger. 

Draco sighs from beside me and I can’t help but agree. They’ve already seen us though and I notice Potter staring right at Draco with a hint of red on his cheeks. Of course, my brother doesn’t see because he is blind when it comes to love but I’ll tell him later. That’s when I realise my brother and I are matching, wearing almost the exact shade of blue. We are like the best looking sister and brother duo in this school. That makes me feel better enough to talk to the Golden Trio. 

I make my way to the three of them, Draco following behind me. I don’t even glance at the other two, just stare at Potter, “Have you told your little friends already, Potter?” 

Weasley glares at me, ready to probably say an insult about my heritage but Granger stops him and replies for Potter, “He hasn’t told us anything except that Dumbledore has assigned the three of you to do a task for him.” 

I nod, happy with that answer but then I hear the click-clack of heels going down the stairs that lead to the 8th year common room. We all glance towards the sound and I see Pansy there who sees us and dashes over in her 4.5 inches long high heels, a brown handbag hanging over her arm. 

“Cass, you took the wrong handbag!” She says to me before pulling me off to the side so the trio cannot hear her. 

She switches the bags with me, “I heard from Daphne that you had to do something with Potter and if you’re associating with Potter and Draco in the same room, it can never turn out good so I just wanted to wish you good luck,” I smile and that and give her a hug, when I let go she adds, “But seriously, you can’t have a blue handbag with all that other blue, it’s too much.” 

Pansy walks away with the blue handbag and purposely goes over to Draco and gives him a kiss on the cheek, her lipstick rubbing off on his face and says, “Bye, Dray.” 

She and I plus all the other Slytherins, have a group where we talk about Draco’s obvious crush on Potter and how to make Potter jealous. So far, Pansy has been the only one to get even a small reaction out of Potter and now, she’s done it again, because I can see Potter clenching his hands into a fist by his side. 

Draco does not notice and yells after her as she runs back up the stairs, “I told you not to call me- ...and she’s gone.” 

I can tell the other three are feeling a bit uncomfortable so I wave Granger and Weasley off, letting them have a small sentiment goodbye with Potter, acting as if this is the last time they’ll see him but they probably did think that, going off with not one Malfoy but two. So now it’s just me, my brother and Potter walking down the hallway to the Ravenclaw dormitory because Luna Lovegood was the first on the list that wasn’t an eighth year. 

To entertain myself, I thought about what Potter’s reaction would be when he saw that Draco and I had been faking all the mean things we said towards Luna and that we were actually cousins. Luna’s mother, Pandora, was our father’s sister but once she died, we stopped seeing them because our father felt we didn’t have to anymore with his sister dead. Our mother snuck us out a few times to visit them, though. 

When we reached the Ravenclaw common room, there was a bronze door knocker in the shape of an eagle. Potter speaks first, “What do we do?” 

I had heard from Luna that it was a riddle but I couldn’t see any. Before any of us could reply, the eagle talks, 

“ _What came first:  
The phoenix,  
Or the flame?_”  


Potter stares at the eagle with shock and confusion but Draco and I ponder about it. I’ve never been good at riddles but I know that if Draco hadn’t been in Slytherin, he definitely would have been a Ravenclaw. Me, on the other hand, would have been a Hufflepuff, something my father would never have forgiven me for. I’m about to give up and try and bargain with the eagle when Draco gasps. 

“I’ve got it!” He shouts, “The answer is ‘A circle has no beginning.’” 

The knocker taps the door and it swings open, allowing us in. I beam at Draco who returns it while Potter coughs, clearing his throat, “Um, good job Malfoy. How did you know that?” 

“Well, I remember Luna telling me a long time ago and it’s not that hard really,” Draco responds, with a smug look on his face. 

“Lun-?” Potter goes to ask but is interrupted when the same person shows up. 

She smiles airly, “ Hello Harry. Hello Draco and Cass, what a lovely surprise!” 

I smile back, “It’s nice to see you too, Luna. But we have a favour to ask.” 

Luna nods, “Of course, anything for family.” 

“Family!?” Potter exclaims and I have to stifle a laugh. 

Draco rolls his eyes, “Yes, Potter. Luna is our cousin on our father’s side. Her mother was my aunt.” 

His eyebrows furrow, “But then why were you so mean to her if she’s your cousin?” 

I can tell Draco does not know how to answer this without spilling all our secrets so I butted in, “Ok Potter, enough questions. Luna, we need you to go to the great hall at eleven, just by yourself, can you do that? We will explain everything then.” 

She nods, “Okay!” 

We all say goodbye, Potter still confused, but he doesn’t say anything as we make our way down the stairs from the Ravenclaw common room and off to the Gryffindor common room to pick up some of the younger students. Slytherin is last and there’s no one in Hufflepuff we need that are not in the eighth year. 

Potter seems to ease up as we saunter up the stairs and when we reach the painting of The Fat Lady, she doesn’t even ask for a password, just seeing Potter makes her let us in. I roll my eyes, Potter always gets everything he wants. 

Potter is the one holding the list and he reads off a list of names to a random sixth year who wouldn’t let us in any further because we were Slytherins, “Um, Ginny Weasley, Ava Spinks and Sophia Rogers.” Other than the Weaslette, I have not heard of any of the others. I do wonder if Sophia Rogers is related to Chris Rogers, a Slytherin in our year. Draco looks at me and I know we had the same thought. 

“Oh!” Potter exclaims, pulling the student back, “And there’s also Matilda Faun? Never heard of her.” 

I gasp, why was our family always involved? Matilda was another cousin but on our mother’s side. Some random cousin of mother’s that got disowned for marrying a muggle. Our mother kept in touch though with the cousin because they were very close. Matilda had two sisters as well, Rachel and Lucy. Rachel was four years older than me and Lucy was only two years older. Matilda was the year below me. 

A few minutes later, I saw four girls come down, two redheads, one blond and the other a brunette. The Wesalette and Matilda were redheads but I did not know which of the other two were Spinks and Rogers. Chris had dirty blonde so perhaps Sophia had blond hair too but I was not sure. The other student leaves us seven alone. Matilda gives a small wave at me which I return, trying not to attract any unwanted attention to us. 

“Ok,” The girl Weasley says, “What do you need us for, Harry? And why are they here?” 

She points straight at us and I almost want to go up there and just snap her finger in half. Potter scratches the back of his neck, “Yeah I can’t tell you why but Dumbledore needs all four of you in the great hall at eleven. Everything will be explained there.” 

I can tell the Weaslette is not buying it but she agrees along with her two friends and Matilda. She glances at me and raises her eyebrows but I nodded, telling her what he says is true. She shrugs at me and the four of them walk away. Draco slings an arm around my shoulder and walks behind Potter as we go down the stairs from the Gryffindor common room. 

Once we get down to the bottom, Potter shows us the list. “There are only Slytherin’s left on the list, no Hufflepuffs. Which means...” 

“We have to go down to the dungeons.” Draco finishes for him. 

I cheer because I’ve wanted to go down to the Slytherin common room since we got here. I miss the mermaids and the darkness and the green, “Hey Potter, you’ll get to see the common room for the first time.” 

He laughs nervously at that for some reason, “Yeah… first time.” 

I ignore it and continue my way down to the common room. It’s a bit of a long walk but in five or so minutes, we are there. It doesn’t take long for me to find the spot where the secret brick is. I pull it out and fiddle around for a piece of paper. When we were in Hogwarts before, we used to hide a paper with the passwords for the week on it in case we forget. No one ever found it though so it worked and I guess the younger students passed it along. 

“Of course,” I say, rolling my eyes and Draco laughs, looking over my shoulder before saying the password, “Rosica is endgame.” 

The wall slides open and Draco and I step in, breathing in the familiar smell. Potter comes in behind us and I am glad he doesn’t question the choice of password. Students that recognize us wave at us, a few of them ignore us because of our last name but most of them were in the same boat so they are still kind to us. 

Finally, we reach a table in the back where Rosa Parkinson, David Zabini and Astoria Greengrass are sitting. They see us and grin, David flips his hair back and winks at me, “Hey there gorgeous.” 

I stare at him, “I’m gay David and aren’t you dating this guy in your year?” 

He blushes and stops talking while Tori laughs, “What do you need Cass? Has my sister been troubling you that much?” 

Rosa rolls her eyes, “Please, I think it would be my sister that would be causing her trouble. Oh! Did you like the new password?” 

“Yes,” Draco replies, “Wait until I tell Jess, she’ll freak out.” 

We all laugh, Potter confused in the background which reminds me of the real reason we’re here, not a family reunion, “Ok, so Dumbledore has sent us to round up a bunch of people including you but you need to meet us at the great hall at eleven and we will explain everything there. Cool?” 

Rosa narrows her eyes at us, “How do we know it’s not a prank for dying Draco’s hair bright red last year?” 

My brother freezes at that and looks like he is going to murder her but Potter lets out a chuckle which makes Rosa turn to look at Potter before going back to Draco. She smirks, “Ok, we’ll meet you at eleven at the great hall. If you aren’t there exactly at eleven, though, we are leaving.” 

I nod, “Don’t worry, we’ll be there.” 

We say our goodbyes and leave the common room. Draco sticks next to me, knowing Potter is going to ask about his hair incident. But Potter doesn’t say anything though all the way back to the eighth year common room, he keeps smirking. Maybe this is why he could’ve been a Slytherin because he is most likely using this for blackmail. He knows Draco would die if this got out. Sometimes, it feels like nothing has changed like it’s back to third year with Draco talking about Potter all day. 

“You’ll get all the Slytherins and Ravenclaws and I’ll get the Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors?” Potter says when they reach the top of the stairs and mumbles the password which is ‘unity’. 

The painting swings open and as I step in, I ask, “Can we get the Hufflepuffs?” 

Potter eyes me curiously but in the end shrugs, “Yeah, sure.” 

We go our separate ways, Potter starting on the boy’s side while Draco and I begin on the girl’s side. We reach the first dormitory which is the Hufflepuff’s first dorm with Susan Bones, Hannah Abbott and Sally-Anne Perks. I hear voices coming from inside so I knock on the door, hoping someone will answer. A few seconds later, the door opens and Susan is standing there. 

A smile stretches across her face as she sees me and Draco, “Cass! Dray! What brings you here?” 

Draco frowned at the use of his nickname but doesn’t complain since it’s Susan so I answered her, “Um, Dumbledore sent me, Draco and Harry to get some people and so we need you three to meet us at the great hall at eleven. We will explain there.” 

She nods and we say goodbye before the door closes in front of us and we move onto the Slytherin girls. We walk past the other Hufflepuff dorm and past the two Ravenclaw dorms and finally reach my dorm. Only Pansy, Daphne and Millicent were on the list so I don’t bother getting the others, just them, though Rosa will be mad that her girlfriend won’t be there. Would it really hurt if there’s four for more people? 

Draco knocks on the door but I don’t wait for an answer and barge in, it is my dorm as well. Millicent is the only one there, Daphne and Pansy must have already left for breakfast. She looks up as we enter, “Can you do me a favour, Millie?” 

She doesn’t say anything so I continue, “Dumbledore needs these people to come to the great hall at eleven and you, Daphne and Pansy are on this list. If you see them, can you tell them and make sure you’re there at eleven?” 

“Sure,” Millicent answers before going back to writing something down on a piece of parchment paper, probably homework. 

We won’t be getting anymore conversation out of her so I motion to Draco that we should leave. The next-door down is Tracey, Sally, Jessica, Emily and Grace ’s dorm room. The Slytherin girls are an odd number so our dorm has four people while there’s has five. I knock and wait until someone opens the door. It’s Grace there and she grins when she sees me. She was one of the first friends I made here, other than the ones I knew before Hogwarts. She’s a half-blood and was the reason I don’t believe in stupid pureblood superiority. 

Grace welcomes me in but Draco casts a quick _‘tempus’_ and shows me the time is ten-fifteen and that we need to speed things up so I reject the offer. Grace doesn’t mind and I ask, “Meet us in the great hall in eleven, bring all your dorm mates.” 

I’m not sure how Grace got in Slytherin, because she should be a Gryffindor or even a Hufflepuff for she doesn’t question me about why. Maybe that’s why she is a Slytherin because people underestimate her and then she surprises them with her Slytherin side. She goes back inside because Jessica is planning a big heist to steal her makeup back from Pansy, which will probably end badly so she doesn’t want to miss it. I wave goodbye and Draco and I make our way to the boy’s side. 

We pass Potter, who gives us the thumbs up, telling us that the guys from the other two houses will be there. Draco and I decide to visit the Hufflepuff guys first so he knocks on their door. Ernie Macmillan answers the door and we tell him the same thing we have told everyone else and he agrees to go along with Oliver Rivers and Justin Finch- Fletchey. 

Both me and Draco were not happy to see Justin’s name on the list since he once tried to get me to date him several times but we weren’t just going to go against Dumbledore’s orders and just exclude someone. Though, we did just add five extra people but adding and subtracting were two very different things. 

Next were the Slytherin boys- Blaise, Theo and Gregory. This was going to be a bit hard to do since Blaise and Theo roomed with Draco but Greg was with Matthew White, Leon Sanchez and Chris Rogers. It was against what Dumbledore said, again, but you couldn’t just not include them? Draco and I must have had the same thought because after we talked to both dorms about going to the great hall at eleven, we told Greg to tell Matthew, Leon and Chris to go as well. Oh well, Dumbledore should know not to trust a Slytherin to follow the exact rules. 

We didn’t see Potter at all when we left the common room at ten forty-five to go to the great hall nor did we pass him in the hallways. I found that odd but it was like Potter to be late so I wasn’t too surprised. Draco, though, kept looking down hallways as if the boy would just randomly appear. After a few minutes, we reached the large wooden doors of the great hall. No one was inside except for some teachers, including Dumbledore, because breakfast ended at ten for classes. It was a Sunday though, so no classes but students were out playing and hanging with friends. 

Dumbledore saw us and waved us over. He pulled out his wand and said a spell I couldn’t hear and a large screen showed. I gasped and Dumbledore spoke, a twinkle in his eye, “This is a projector to show the CDs on.” 

I nod, unable to speak. I had never seen anything like it and neither had Draco so I assumed it was a muggle object. It interested me so I was sure to search up ‘projector’ later. Dumbledore told us to take a seat at our table so we did and soon, students began to fill in, all of them people I remembered were on the list. I was searching for students who weren’t on it but it seemed no one that wasn’t on the list were interested in coming. 

Potter appeared at the last second, obviously out of breath with Granger and Weasley at his side. He saw me and Draco but we both just rolled our eyes from our usual seat at the Slytherin table. The three of them sat at the Gryffindor table and at that moment, Dumbledore spoke up. 

“You may be wondering why you are here or why Mr and Ms Malfoy and Mr Potter came and got you.” Dumbledore says, causing numerous whispers and agreements echoed across the room, “Well, yesterday a folder arrived from a mysterious person with a letter and seven CDs. The Ministry and I have checked for curses or spells on it but there are none.” 

“The letter states that these CDs show the past seven years in the perspective of Mr Harry Potter,” Gasps sound throughout the room, “But, the person who sent this has footage of the other three houses that they have edited into the CDs. This may revolve unsolved mysteries and tensions between students and may reveal secrets,” 

At that moment, Dumbledore looks at the Slytherin table and winks which makes me freeze. _Does he know? He knows, he knows, how does he know? What do I do? He knows-_ My internal crisis is interrupted when Dumbledore continues, “Classes have been cancelled for the week because we will be watching all seven CDs. A spell has been cast so no time will pass when we leave, for you, it will feel like a week but barely an hour will pass once this is over.” 

“There is one more thing,” Dumbledore adds, “Some people are not here with us today, whether they passed in the war or are in another place. But they are important for the CDs so they will be joining us. Do not worry, some will not show up for a few CDs.” 

With a snap of his fingers, people begin to randomly appear. I can see the whole Weasley clan show up along with a short little boy and a few others. Most are Gryffindors but I do notice Matilda’s sisters show up as well. I smile at them. Reunions start across the hall, my friends next to me gossiping but Dumbledore claps his hands, silencing the room. 

“Oh,” Dumbledore said, “I do believe these seats are uncomfortable so,” He swishes his wands and we all are levitated and the seat change into movie chairs and we are placed back down. We are more compact now into a group but I am still next to my friends and brother. 

Once everyone settles down, Dumbledore claps his hands together again and the lights above us turn off and the light above him stays on. He smiles, not breaking eye contact with me, making my hair stand on end but I don’t look away. 

“Shall we begin?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick a/n:
> 
> I made up some students so any you don't remember are mine. Also next chapter they will begin to watch the movies. All the dead will return and some older people but not until the movie they are in. If anyone remembers about a OC named Emily, she switched to someone named Katrina. Grace, Jessica and Katrina are halfbloods. 
> 
> One thing as well is that the people who came back from the dead or people who just appeared are: the Weasleys (including Fred but not the parents), two OC's named Lucy and Rachel, Oliver Wood, Marcus Flint, and just other random people or students that already graduated. The Dursely's are not here though. In the later books, Sirius and Remus, Tonks, etc. will appear. The teachers for that movie will appear as well (except Quirrell cause he died)
> 
> Also I realised half way through this that Dumbledore died in the movies so just pretend that he survived. Everyone else who died is dead (but will come back). I also mentioned Vincent in the first chapter but then later on I said he was dead so please just roll with it. He was supposed to be dead and then brought back but I forgot so please forgive me.
> 
> I FIXED THE PROBLEM ABOUT THE COPYRIGHT. you will see in the next chapter that I have to use only a small part of the dialogue. I also can't describe what happens so I'm sorry if you can't understand it in the next chapter. 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed this. Luna, Cass and Draco are cousins btw :) I like that idea since they have similar hair colour (in the movies, not the books). Luna's mother is Draco's father's sister. Leave kudos and questions in the comments. And bookmark this too!


	3. people change and forget to tell each other

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> \- i think we deserve  
> a soft epilogue, my love  
> we are good people  
> and we've suffered enough -  
> 
> 
> Cassiopeia and her brother watch Potter's life at home and she wonders if there is anything else she had assumed that was wrong. She knew that purebloods weren't superior and that the rivalry between Draco and Potter was turning into something more. Not that anyone besides the Slytherins would notice with Draco insulting them every minute. Like the muggles said, old habits die hard. 
> 
> She just hopes nothing from their childhood is shown.

Silence stretched across the great hall, no one daring to speak as their Headmaster conquered a piece of paper into his hands. He coughed, clearing his throat before speaking, “Now there are a few rules before we play the first CD.”

I almost groaned out loud, of course, there were rules. What possibly could we mess up? Dumbledore continued, “The first rule is, there will be no spoilers from you about the future during these CDs. I understand that we have already gone through all of this but some people weren’t as updated as others. If a major spoiler is about to be said, you will find yourself unable to speak until you talk about a different topic.”

Everyone agrees, nodding, some even willing to test it and begin to blurt out people’s secrets. Some find themselves mute while others can still talk, this causes a lot of embarrassment and laughter. When this all happening, Pansy leans over to me and whispers in my ear, “Should I stand up and shout out that I’m gay during all this noise?”

That makes me spit out my drink but before I can tell her that may not be the best idea, she’s already standing up and she yells, “I’m gay!” right when everyone stops talking. Her face goes bright red but she does not show her embarrassment on her face, instead, she huffs and sits back down. Everyone stares at her but then they look away, though Granger’s eyes seem to linger a bit longer than everyone else’s.

Pansy elbows me in the side, getting my attention, and says, “You should do it too, it feels good to be out to everyone.”

I am not as brave as Pansy though so I shake my head as she turns around to talk to the other Slytherins to do the same as her because there is no one in our house and year that is completely straight other than maybe one person. I’m bisexual myself but I knew if I said it to everyone here, my mother would somehow find out and have a heart attack. I don’t want to be the cause for my mother’s death because even though she made some mistakes, most of them during my childhood, she’s still my mother in the end. 

“The second rule is commentary during the CDs is allowed though it would be good to keep it short. If a conversation goes on for too long, we will pause the CDs so no one misses anything,” Dumbledore says, bringing everyone’s focus back to him. 

No one disagrees against the rule so Dumbledore carries on with his speech, “The third rule is there will be no hate here. We are all the same and you might figure out later on that no one here is actually against equality for all wizards,” This makes the Gryffindors burst out in laughter, how could Dumbledore say that when there were Slytherins in the room who literally bully muggle-borns and half-bloods? Dumbledore ignores them and continues, “No matter what we see on this screen, we will not bad-talk anyone here.”

It’s silent again so the Headmaster keeps going, “Keep your temper down as well, we do not want to start any fights. And, I don’t think we need to remind you but please remain in your seats. I will allow some switching to go on and if anyone needs to, there is a room in the back if what is shown gets uncomfortable for you.”

He points to the room in the back that was used in their fourth year for the Triwizard Tournament champions. I assume what Dumbledore is saying is mostly directed at Potter, because this is his life we are getting shown but also for the later part because if this is his life then the war will be in it and that’s something some people want to keep behind them. 

“Finally,” Dumbledore says, “There will be breaks half through each CD and after every CD for people to eat and for other personal things. You may use it to hang with friends or talk with others. We will also set up some games to do so we can bond as a school. You do not have to wait until the break though to use the restroom or to get a snack, they are both over to the side on the left.”

We all look to where he said and see three doors saying female, male and neutral. I am surprised to see the last one, not because I am against it but Hogwarts has never had neutral bathrooms before so it was odd for them to start now. Perhaps they had changed with the new rule in the common room as well, where both genders could go up either side’s dormitories. There’s also a table with food and I swear Weasley and Vincent and Greg look like they could devour the whole table. 

Dumbledore clapped his hands and the screen came to life, fuzzing as one of the other teachers placed a CD into this box before pressing a button. The lights all went off and the CD began to play. It was starting.

I hear from a few seats down Potter whisper, “...Privet Drive.”

“Is that you, Headmaster?” Grangers asks, squinting at the screen to get a closer look. Dumbledore does not answer her though.

The man smiles and says, **“I should’ve known […] Professor McGonagall.”**

I look up to the Professor sitting at the long table in front of the screen and I’m ashamed of myself that I didn’t recognize the cat was her. I have seen her animagus so many times around Hogwarts that I should have been able to know it was her. I remember that my brother told me that Blaise and Theo were late for class once and they thought they were safe but Professor McGonagall was in her cat form and caught them. I’ve never let them forget about that. 

I realise how Professor McGonagall hasn’t changed at all throughout the seven years, still looking as mighty and strong as she was before, but not as young. She had more wrinkles now too. The war was hard on everyone. 

**“Good evening, [...] rumours correct, Albus?”** I frown, what rumours was she talking about? 

Weasley speaks up, “What rumours?” 

“The ones about Harry Potter.” Dumbledore answers which does nothing but confuse us more. I look over at the Potter himself but he looks as puzzled as the rest of us.

“What year is this?” One of the Ravenclaw students, Lisa Turpin, asked.

McGonagall responds this time, “1981.”

A few gasps echo from around the room, including one from me. 1981 was the year Voldemort supposedly died the first time, the year Harry Potter defeated him the first time, but also the year my father lied that he was under the Imperius during the first wizarding war. I’m not sure why I was surprised, we knew this was about Harry Potter’s life but I didn’t realise it started this early. 

**“I’m afraid [...] The good and the bad.”**

**“[...] the boy?”**

**“Hagrid [..] him here,”**

**“Do you think [...] important as this?”** Hagrid, who is sitting on the teachers table, frowns at this and tries to make eye contact with her but she seems to be trying to avoid it. 

**“Ah, Professor [...] my life.”**

This makes Hagrid forget about the other comment and the two share a smile. Next to me, Pansy flops her head on my shoulder, whispering, “This is boring.”

“It’s Harry Potter’s life, Pansy,” I argue back, “I assure you it will be anything but boring.” 

She rolls her eyes but says nothing else as the CD continues. A motor sound blasts through the speakers and I jump up from my seat, startled, causing Pansy to hit her head hard on my shoulder. She’s annoyed with me but my eyes are glued to the screen. I realise it’s one of those muggle contraptions, a motorcycle. Hagrid here brightens up at seeing himself. 

**“No problems, [...]?”**

**“No, sir. [...] There you go.”**

“Is that me, sir?” Potter asks Dumbledore. 

“Yes, Mr. Potter, that is you. Such a calm baby you were.” Dumbledore says. 

That makes Potter flush and he mumbles out a “Thanks.”.

**“‘[...] with these people? [...] They really are-”**

**“The only family [..]”**

Potter is fuming from his seat. McGongall had seen how terrible his muggle aunt and uncle were and Dumbledore still made him stay with them. Who cares if they were his only family? Any other family would have been better than the Dursley’s. Draco seems surprised as well that the Headmaster would let the Golden Boy stay with bad muggles. He always assumed the life Potter lived was extravagant. 

**“This boy [..] know his name.”**

**“Exactly. [..] Until he is ready.”**

Real life Hagrid starts sniffling and tears appear in both their eyes. He clears his throat and he pulls a tissue out of his pocket and blows his nose.

**“There, there [..] goodbye, after all.”**

Hagrid looks down at Potter from the teachers table and smiles. It wasn’t goodbye, just a very long time in between the first and second hello. Sometimes, I have to agree that the Headmaster says wise things a few times. 

**“Good luck... Harry Potter”**

The cursive of the note reminds me of the signature of the Headmistress Madame Maxime of Beauxtrons. I have only seen it once and that was in the letter of acceptance to Beauxtrons which I then burned and replaced with a rejection letter so I could get into Hogwarts. I had believed back then that I could change my brother into a better person but I discovered I myself was not a better person either and that our father had a bigger influence on us then I thought. 

It seems that all our decisions were based on what our father wanted, what we could do to prove ourselves. The opening title is shown: **_“Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone”._** There are gasps from the Gryffindor section and I wonder if they recognize that stone. There is a slight nagging at the back of mind but I can’t remember what the stone is though I know it was important. Obviously not important enough to remember it though. 

Sneaking a glance at Potter though, he doesn’t look extremely happy at what is about to be shown on the screen. I must admit that if my life was on the screen, I wouldn’t be excited either. My brother would be but that would depend on what parts were shown. The good parts of course but we all wish the bad parts of our life can stay in the past and just forget them. It seems for Potter, that won’t be happening. 

**“Up. [...] Now!”**

There is a collective gasp that sounds across the room and Potter shrinks into his seat. I am shocked and I can tell the other Slytherin’s are as well. We all had imagined that Potter lived a luxurious life, not sleeping in a cupboard. Draco meets my gaze and I can see the guilt and regret in his eyes. I don’t know what to say so I return my look to the screen.

**“Wake up [...] the zoo!”**

Longbottom thankfully asks the question that I have wondered this whole time, “Are those your relatives, Harry?”

He nods, “Unfortunately, yes.” 

There is an awkward silence until Blaise speaks up. “Do you think a muggle zoo is the same as the wizard one we went to for Draco’s seventh birthday?” He doesn’t talk loud but the others hear what he says. I don’t remember going to a zoo for any of our birthdays. 

“We didn’t go to a zoo, Blaise.” Draco says, raising his eyebrow at him. By now, everyone else is listening into our conversation. 

“Then why was there a peacock?” 

I burst into laughter, “Those were our peacocks.” 

Potter, who was listening in to the conversation like everyone else, asked, “Were?”

“They died during the war.” I say.

My brother shakes his head, “And thank god for that. Our father bought them before we were born because he thought they would express wealth and elegance but they are just really loud and annoying.” 

I stare at him, “They’re nice animals. You’re just angry because one of them bit you when you three.”

He huffs, “Stupid Aphrodite” 

Our friends all laugh at him until we are shushed by Professor Snape, the movie continuing. I wince at the way Potter’s relatives treat him. That must have hurt. 

**“Oh, [...] birthday boy!”**

**“Happy birthday, [...]”**

**“[...] cook the breakfast, [...] burn anything.”**

**“Yes, [...] Petunia.”**

My brother and all the guys had never learnt to cook but the house elves taught me at a young age. A woman in the pureblood world had to know how to be the perfect housewife which included cooking. Some families were less fortunate and didn’t own a house elf while others preferred homemade meals sometimes so it was a skill that was needed. I wasn’t a good cook and I undercooked the first meal that I made. My brother had to eat it and he had food poisoning for a week afterwards. 

**“I want everything [...] Dudley’s special day.”**

Draco sneers, muttering, “That’s a terrible name to give to a child.”

Somehow, the Gryffindors hear and Potter chuckles, “It fits him then. A terrible name for a terrible child.”

The two look at each other, grinning before Draco realises who the other is and looks away, a slight blush on his cheeks. Potter almost looks disappointed but I hold back the urge to smirk. These two were ridiculous. I focus back on the screen. 

**“Hurry [...] boy!”**

Potter flinches at the loud volume of his uncle’s voice. I wrap my hand around my brother’s wrist.

**“[...] Vernon.”**

Katrina and Tracey snigger in the row behind me, Grace hitting them both on the back of their heads. I thanked her in my head for doing that because I couldn’t think of a worse time to be laughing. Of course, I was trying not to laugh at it myself. These names made my brother and I’s ridiculous long names not that bad. 

Granger didn’t think anything was funny and said, “Something funny?” 

The two couldn’t answer though because they started to laugh harder, Grace glaring at her friends and so Theo replied for them, “Ignore them, Granger. They just find the names of these people hilarious.”

I turn around to face them and say, “Can you two shut up?” 

Tracey stops when I look at her but Katrina stares at me. It’s intense and I suddenly wish I hadn’t started this because the other girl could go for minutes without blinking. Pansy pushed Katrina’s face away, rolling her eyes, “Stop it you two so we can continue the movie.”

When I look back at the screen, my eyes widen. How rich were these people? And if they were so rich, why did they have Potter sleep in a cupboard? I was confused and I could tell my friends were shocked at the presents as well. 

**“How many [...]?”**

Could he not count? I thought to myself and it wasn’t until Pansy elbowed in the ribs that I realised I said it outloud. My face flushed and I contrasted into my seat as people stared at me. They hadn’t heard what I said but they knew I said something. No one said anything and they let it go.

**“Thirty-six. [...]”**

Hannah gasps, “That’s a lot of presents!” 

Potter scratches the back of his neck, “Yeah, he was sort of the favourite child in the house.”

I roll my eyes. That was pretty obvious, with his cousin living the best life while he slept in a cupboard. At home, Draco was the favourite but even he was scolded and yelled because he couldn’t be protected like Dudley was. He had to be the perfect pureblood to continue the Malfoy line. 

**“Thirty-six?! [...] thirty-seven!!”**

One of the Weasley’s, the dragon trainor I think, says, “All this fuss over one present?”

“Must remind you of your birthdays, hey Malfoy? Daddy buying you everything you want?” The other Gryffindors laugh at the comment and my brother opens his mouth but Dumbledore beats him to it. 

“Now Mr. Weasley, I do believe that from this note I have here that we will be seeing into your other classmates' lives as well. Perhaps you will find out some interesting things.” The Headmaster says and the colour drains from my face. What did he mean about that?

**“[...] bigger than last year!”**

**“I don’t care [...]!”**

A Ravenclaw boy, Terry Boot, groans into his hands, “Don’t tell me he’s going to have a tantrum.”

His friend, Micheal, laughs, “Remind you of yourself at that age?”

“I was a very well behaved child, thank you very much.” Terry says, crossing his arms across his chest. 

**“[...] two new presents! [...] Pumpkin?”**

My brother’s nose crinkles, “Pumpkin? What kind of horrid nickname is that? Calling a child after a food?”

Theo stares at Draco, “Your mother called you dragon, Draco.” 

He looks flabbergasted and stutters to answer, “Well, my name means dragon so…”

“She didn’t call me queen though.” I say, pouting.

Draco rolls his eyes, “Something you reminded me of constantly.”

I stick my tongue out at him but I know he was right. Our mother called me ‘princess’ a few times but it never really stuck. Pansy is nudging at me to look back at the screen to look at this muggle contraption, a car. Those things look dangerous to me. A large box on wheels. Pansy was quite fascinated with them, especially the ones muggles deemed expensive but to me they sounded stupid. 

**“This will be a lovely day [...]”**

Potter snorts and I look over at him, my eyebrows raised. He knows something that we don’t. I’m now more intrigued than before. I wonder what is going to happen next.

**“I’m warning you... [...] Get in.”**

The Longbottom boy frowns, “Why did you go with them if they didn’t want you to?”

Potter sighs, “I wasn’t going to go originally but my babysitter broke her leg so she couldn’t babysit me. I seemed to be the only one happy about that since she was an old lady who smelled like cabbage.” 

A few people laugh at the comment but the silence comes. I can only assume this is what a zoo is. It looks different from a wizarding zoo because we have different animals but the muggle zoo has the same concept. Animals kept in cages or areas for people to come and look at. 

**“[...] move.”**

**“Move!”**

I watch in horror as Vernon and Dudley make a fool of themselves. I almost wish the snake would bash through the glass and eat them all. These muggles were disgusting. 

**“MOVE!”**

Potter flinches again at the loud volume and a few of my fellow Slytherins do as well. I try not to think of why but my mind goes to the many times my father was ashamed of me. The feeling of the palm of his hand against my cheek or the pain he could put on me with only a flick of his wand. 

**“[...] asleep!”**

**“[...] boring.”**

I am thankful when they move away from the snake and retreat to a different animal. What I don’t expect is for Potter to start talking to the snake. I would have laughed at this if I didn’t know from second year that Potter is a parselmouth and if I didn’t do the same thing when I was young. There were many animals in the forest that I talked to when I was lonely. 

**“Sorry about him. He doesn’t understand [...]”**

One of the Wealseys, the one that was a prefect in second year, speaks up, “Didn’t muggles find it weird that you were speaking to a snake in its language?”

Potter shrugs, “They didn’t really give me a second glance. And like I’ve said before, I didn’t know I was a parselmouth then.” 

The twin, George, laughs, “Must have given them a nasty shock when they passed by and heard a boy hissing at a snake.” 

The other twin, Fred, joins in, “It gave us a shock here, imagine what the muggles must have thought!”

And that’s when I remember that the second twin died in the war and that whatever magic the person, Samantha, who sent the note, did bring back anyone who died in the war. I spotted Lavender Brown and Colin Creevy sitting among us. Luckily, Vince, who we all thought died, had been sent to a ward and gotten treated. He seemed he was only severely burned. I did know that Draco had been avoiding him. He felt like it was his fault Vincent was burnt though no one believed it was. 

**“Can you… hear me? [...] I never knew my parents, either.”**

There is a sadness that drifts through the room at Potter’s words. He never got to know his parents and lives in a cupboard with horrible relatives that treat him like dirt. My parents are alive but as a child, they ignored me and favoured my brother more for the simple fact that he would carry the Malfoy name and I wouldn’t. They couldn’t even accept the fact we were twins, making me switch last names throughout my seven years at Hogwarts. Since my father was now gone, my mother had no control over my personal information so I changed back. I understand what it's like to be treated less than others which is why I never understood that muggleborns and half bloods were bad. The way my father acted towards them was the same way he acted towards me when we were alone and I was a pureblood so it made no sense. My brother took a bit more convincing to switch mindsets. 

Granger wraps her arm around Potter, hugging him, “Is that how you felt?”

“Yeah, back then I did but now I’ve got you guys and you’re now my family.” He smiles sincerely, looking around at all his friends which were basically all the Gryffindors there. 

**“Mummy, dad, come here! [...]”**

“Well that was rude!” The girl Weasley, Ginerva, yells at the on-screen Dudley. 

Dean Thomas holds her back and goes to say something when something strange happens on the screen. I gasp. It was accidental magic but how was Potter at age ten able to make glass disappear completely? 

**“Whoa! [...]”**

Everyone laughs as Dudley goes flying forward into the snake’s cage, getting drenched in water. Granger’s eyes are wide with eagerness, “How did you make the glass disappear?! That is difficult magic and you just did it then!”

Potter shrugs, “I don’t know. I’ve always done weird things like that when I was young.” 

Weasley shakes his head, “That’s accidental magic, mate. But that’s usually breaking something or levitating something, not making glass disappear.”

Potter shrugs again, “It happened, it felt natural to me.”

“Of course complex magic came naturally to the Chosen One as a child. What else could you do, aperate?” My brother sneers under his breath but it isn’t as low as he thought since the others hear. 

He’s probably thinking of the times as a child when our father thought he was a squib until my brother cast a protego around me when our father went to hit me. Apparently, I had broken something with accidental magic. Afterwards, my brother worked hard with his tutors to be the best so he could protect me and so our father would be proud of him. He never was though, only praised him but that was enough for Draco.

Looking over, Potter seems visibly offended and shocked. Weasley stands up and shouts, “You gotta problem, Malfoy? Gonna run to your Daddy and tell him? Oh wait, that’s right, he’s in Azkaban.” 

Professor McGonogall coughs loudly into his hand before Draco can reply. I focus back on the screen, thankful that someone stopped the fight and that no one got hurt. 

**“Thankssssssssss.”**

My eyes widen and I say, “Did that snake just speak?” 

Blaise touches my shoulder from his seat next to Pansy, “Potter’s a parselmouth, Cass.”  
I mentally facepalm, “Oh… right.” Draco nudges me, silently laughing so I just step on his foot which shuts him up. 

“Anytime.”

“You just let the snake go?” Theo asks, staring at Potter.

He nods, confused by the question, “Uh, yeah? It didn’t deserve to be stuck there forever. It should be free.” 

Theo just keeps staring, “Damn, Potter. You do have a saviour complex.” 

**“SNAKE!”**

The chaos is funny to me, everyone running away from the snake and Potter just sitting on the floor in the middle of it all. I laugh even more when Dudley gets stuck in the cage, the glass back. 

**“[...] mummy!”**

**“AHH!”**

**“Mum, help! [...]”**

**“My darling boy! [...] How did you get in there? [...]”**

Potter grins and everyone laughs at the two panicking. Things go downhill later at home. Magic is always difficult to explain to muggles and even harder when you don’t know about magic. It makes you seem like a child if you blame magic. 

**“It’s alright. [...]”**

Dudley is such a baby, bundled in blankets and shaking while his mother coddles him. My mother had done the same when my brother broke his arm but that was when we were six, not eleven. Potter and his uncle enter now and I can tell things aren’t going to end well. 

**“Ow!”**

There are gasps everywhere and Potter is looking at the floor and I’m getting flashbacks of our father doing the same, grabbing my hair and pinching my face. Draco and Pansy both intertwine their fingers with mine. I want to close my eyes but I can’t so I keep watching. 

**“What happened!”**

**“[...] I don’t know! [...] It was like magic!”**

The way Potter stutters over his words I can tell he is generally scared. If he’s scared that means this man has done bad things to him in the past. There’s part of me that wants to see what happens because it might help me understand him better but there’s another part that doesn’t want to see more because if I don’t see anymore than I can pretend that nothing else bad happens. But with Potter’s luck, more bad stuff is bound to happen. And this is only the beginning. 

**“There’s no [...] magic!”**

Most people laugh at the statement because magic was real and it was funny to see Vernon be so daft. Others, though, were not laughing since Potter had just been shoved into his cupboard and everyone knew that from Vernon’s earlier threat, he would not be getting meals for a while. Potter still won’t look up and Dumbledore must see this since he stands up, clapping his hands to gain everyone’s attention. 

“That was a lot to handle, especially for some people, so why don’t we all take a break. There are snacks on the tables and restrooms to the left.” He sits back down. 

I drag Draco off his chair and haul him over to the table with snacks. My mouth waters at the delicies and goods and I reach for a pastry with jam. Before I can shove it in my mouth, Pansy slaps my hand away. I pout, my eyebrows burrowing.

She tsks at me, “Manners, Cassiopeia.”

Katrina comes walking past and grabs a treacle tart and puts the whole thing in her mouth. “F*** manners.” She swallows and licks her fingertips, walking away again. 

Pansy sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose and says in a threatening voice, “If she does that one more time, _I will_ kill someone.”

“Yeah, I’m just gonna interrupt this for a second.” Draco pushes in between and takes an apple from a fruit bowl. 

Blaise, Theo, Daphne and the others are huddled in a corner laughing about something. I take my jam pastry with me and join them. I hear snippets of conversation but it doesn’t add up. They’re talking about dumb things we’ve done in the past which don’t have anything to do with the situation we are in. Watching a movie about Potter and small sections of others lives, including ours, doesn’t have anything to do with stupid things I’ve sadly been a part of. 

Then it hits me. What if those dumb things were shown on the screen in front of everyone? That time when I slipped on the floor in the common room and hit my bottle of ink, drenching myself in ink and Professor Snape who had just walked in. I had detention for a week afterwards. Or that time when someone surprised me so I threw the closest thing near me which happened to be someone’s cat. The cat avoided me for a month after that happened. Those things were not to share with everyone else, only for me and my friends to laugh about. It was unfair that we didn’t get a choice but I was glad my whole life wasn’t getting shown like Potter. 

I feel my heart drop in my chest. There were other serious things that could be shown on the screen. The war, the cold manor, Death Eaters, him. Feelings of love that were forbidden and secrets that non- purebloods wouldn’t know, like the fact that I have an arranged marriage with someone in the room, just as all my other friends do as well. 

Dumbledore asks for us to come back to our seats and I sit down in the same chair, Draco to my left and Pansy to my right. “Now, it appears that the next section of the CD is not of the movie but extra videos that the person who gave this put in. The videos will be around the same time as the part of the movie we saw. This will include all other houses and people who are not here.” 

The CD plays again and I beg and pray that it’s not me because I’ve spent my whole life being invisible and I’m not ready for people to discover me. The screen shows a nice house and I know I’ve never been there before so I instantly relax into my seat. If my life was going to be shown, at least it wouldn’t be first. Someone’s breath hitches and I glance over to see Susan looking ghostly white. This must be her home.

An owl comes swooping in through an open window and I can tell it's a Hogwarts owl. On the screen, a little stubby girl comes running into the kitchen and takes the letter from the owl’s foot so it can fly away. She isn’t Susan though but her younger sister, Eleanor Bones, who was four years younger and went to a private wizarding school in Italy. Another young girl dashes into the room. She has wavy blonde hair and she grabs the letter from her sister.

**“MOM! Susie got a letter and she won’t let me look at it!”**

Susan groans from her seat, “Can we please skip this?” 

Hannah and Sally grin from their seats on both sides of her, “Nope.” 

**“Give that back, you little gremlin. It’s my Hogwarts letter.”**

There is laughter at the insult. It stops when an older woman, a mother personally, walks into the room. 

**“Well, open it dear.”**

The young Susan’s hands shake as she tears the envelope open and pulls the letter out. She reads the words silently and her eyes widen, tears sprouting in the corners and everyone is quiet. Was she not accepted. I was confused because Susan was here in Hogwarts so why was she crying.

**“... I was accepted.”**

That’s when I realise they are happy tears. Her mother wraps her up in a big hug and there is crying and laughter and joy. Eleanor claps and yells:

 **“Cake time~!”**

The mother laughs and calls for a house elf named Rini. The house elf appears with a cake on a plate in their hands. Rini sets it down on the table with a knife and three small plates before vanishing. The scene ends with the three of them happily eating the cake. The father isn’t present but I know that Susan’s parents got a divorce when she was nine. 

On the screen, the scene switches to a different house. It’s still not mine so I can still breath. Draco’s grip around my wrist loosens. A little bit chubby boy walks into the living room and there is a groan from the Gryffindor side of the room. I look over to see Longbottom with his head in his hands. I stifle a laugh at how upset he looks. 

An old lady, his grandmother, is already sitting in a chair. She glances up at him from over her glasses. 

**“No owl.”**

The young Longbottom sighs. It must be his eleventh birthday but I couldn’t see any streamers or cake like in Susan’s house. His grandmother continues speaking but in a low voice.

**“Not getting in Hogwarts, he’s practically a _squib._ ”**

The way she says squib is with disgust and I can’t help but feel bad for Longbottom. I overheard once that he had never shown any magic until he was thrown out a window and he bounced all the way down the street. Granger wraps her arms around Longbottom and he just sighs.

“It’s alright, she usually acts like that.” Longbottom says which isn’t alright at all because it isn’t good if she acts like that all the time. I don’t speak up though. I’m a Slytherin, they would only find a way to twist my words into something rude. 

An owl suddenly flies through the open window and drops the letter on young Longbottom’s lap and soars back out into the sky. His face is full of shock and he doesn’t waste time picking the letter up. The Hogwarts seal is on the back so he opens the envelope, making sure to not tear the paper. The letter slides out and he grips it tightly. 

**“Well, boy, what does it say?”**

**“I’ve been accepted to Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft.”**

Everyone starts clapping and whooping and to be polite, I clap lightly. I don’t know why we are clapping because it wasn’t much of a surprise that he got accepted since he is here. My brother and our friends used to always tease Longbottom about how he kept blowing things up in class and wasn’t good at magic. I had never expected his own family to think that of him as well. 

The scene ends abruptly and it switches again to cosy home. It is nothing like any of the wizarding manors I’ve been to. I assume this is a muggle house but I can’t be sure. Perhaps the middle class wizards live in places like this. My first guess is correct when a young girl with big bushy hair that I could see from miles away walks into the room. It’s Granger of course, anyone could tell with that hair. Pansy stiffens next to me and I smirk at her before returning my gaze to the screen. Young Granger grins at the big pile of books next to a cake with candles on it, which is very weird. Her parents are there and they start to sing this song and I cringe. It’s a terrible song, almost as bad as the one my brother created about Weasley. 

**“Oh my goodness! Are those all the books I had on my list?!”**

Weasley and Potter laugh and he says, “Of course, ‘Mione wanted books for her birthday.”

All the other Gryffindors laugh as well and Granger huffs, “There’s nothing wrong with liking books.”

“Yeah, but yours is more of an obsession.” Weasley replies and they all burst into laughter again. 

**“Yes, dear, do you like it?”**

**“Like it? I LOVE IT!”**

Young Granger hugs her parents tight and I can’t help but wish I had the same relationship with my parents. My mother loved me and my brother will all her heart but she started to get more distant as we got older. Our father got more strict and he turned into the monster I always knew he would become. Draco didn’t think it would happen. We had good times when we were young and naive but now those times were gone.

******“Who’s at the door?”** ** **

******“I’ll go check, hun.”** ** **

At the door is Professor McGonogall, holding a letter in her hands. Most of the muggleborns gasp and a collective of “You got McGonagall!” and “The best teacher to pair with her.” filled the room. I roll my eyes. 

******“Hello, I am Professor McGonogall of Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft.”** ** **

There is silence and then Granger’s dad speaks up. 

******“Is this some sort of joke?”** ** **

******“No, this is very serious. May I come inside and explain? Your daughter is a witch and she has been invited to our school. Has she ever done anything that you could not explain?”** ** **

More silence and young Granger speaks up this time. 

******“When I was little, I was wearing a blue bow and I wished really hard that it was red and it changed colour.”** ** **

******“Yes, that is magic. Here.”** ** **

Professor McGonogall hands the letter to the young Granger instead of the parents who are flabbergasted. 

******“If you do not believe me then here is proof. _Lumos._ ” ** ** **

Her wand lights up at the tip and there are gasps. The parents look intrigued. 

******“What do we do?”** ** **

******“Read the letter. I will be back here on August first to take you to get what you need.”** ****

********

********

And then Professor McGonogall disappeared, leaving young Granger and her parents confused. That was ridiculous. If I wasn’t a pureblood and this happened to me, I wouldn’t believe it one bit. Pansy seemed to have the same thought. 

“If someone did that to me and I was muggleborn, I would think they were crazy!” Pansy exclaims. 

Surprisingly, Granger chuckles and replies, “My parents almost didn’t let me go but Professor McGonogall came back and showed us more magic. They agreed afterwards.” 

Up at the teachers table, Professor McGonogall smiles, “Your parents were probably my most easiest parents to convince.” 

A few other muggleborns blushed, thinking of how their parents acted at the idea of magic. They most likely kicked out the professors or threw a hissy fit. The screen finally switched again and Cass paled. No one would recognize the manor since this was the one in France. Potter, Wealsey and Granger had seen the one in England which they stayed in for Christmas and the last summers of Hogwarts. They usually stayed in France for summer but with you-know-you there, they had to stay in England. 

I appear on the screen first. Sliding down the hallways with socked feet is a young girl with platnium blonde hair and blue eyes. A few gasps are heard and I wonder if it's from people who know me or if they assume it's my brother. That would be hilarious but I know Draco would not find it funny. It’s Hannah’s voice that I hear. 

“Is that you Cass?” She says. 

I nod, “Yeah that’s me.” 

****“Where are you, Draco?” Blaise asks from his seat next to Pansy.** **

“Just wait.” Is all my brother says. I remember this day like it was yesterday and I guess my brother does as well. 

******“Draco, venez! Tu es si lent.”** ** **

The words are in French and I relax into my seat. No one will be able to understand us. This was a relief. Unfortunately, other people are not as happy as us. 

“Hey, why can’t we understand them?” Weasley cries out. 

Luckily, Weaslette answers for her dumb brother, “She’s speaking French, Ron.” 

Dean Thomas asks, “Can we use a translator or something?” 

I pray no one knows how to do that but a Ravenclaw, Anthony Goldstein, responds, “Well, we can have someone who speaks French translate after what she says but that will be slower than an auto translator.” 

Headmaster Dumbledore grins, “We are fortunate then that there is a spell for that.” He mumbles a spell and directs it at the box with the CD in it. I hope it doesn’t work and I can Draco does as well. We are unlucky, though, because my younger self’s voice fills the room again but this time in English. 

******“Draco, come on! You’re so slow.”** ** **

Then a little boy with the same colour hair as the girl and same baby blue eyes runs up next to the girl. He only rolls his eyes. Draco buries his head into my shoulder. Looking around the room, some people are looking at us like you would look at a cute puppy while others were disgusted by them thinking a Malfoy could be cute. Someone behind us awes and I turn around to see Astoria and Grace cooing at us. Draco glares at them and Daphne yells, “They’re not even that cute.” 

It’s like someone flipped the switch on my brother because he immediately snaps his head over to her and says, “At least I could pronounce my r’s.” 

She gasps and it’s like the best entertainment ever, “You take that back. I didn’t have a lisp at that age, right Astoria?.” 

Astoria, who was amazing, just grins at her sister, “Don’t you mean, Astowia?” 

“Where’s the popcorn?!” Blaise shouts and Theo hits him on the back of his head. 

Pansy shushes everyone and we focus back on the screen, much to my dislike. 

******“I’m coming, Cass. It’s my birthday, remember? You can’t be mad at me for wanting to sleep in.”** ** **

Young Cass rolls her eyes, **“It’s my birthday too and please, do you think father would let you sleep in, even today?”**

Potter frowns, “What do you mean it’s your birthday too?” 

This wasn’t how either me or Draco wanted everyone to find out but we can’t avoid it now. Our younger selves basically exposed us. I answer his question, “We’re twins, Potter.” 

“You’re twins?” Weasley says, shocked. 

Draco nods, “Yes. Weasley. Your little brain should be able to grasp that concept, you have twin brothers yourself. It must be hard though to keep up with all your siblings, though.” 

I slap him on the arm, “That was uncalled for Draco.” He shuts up and Weasley just glares at my brother. 

******“No.”** ** **

******“Okay. Can we go now? Mother’s waiting for us in the dining hall.”** ** **

It switches to us in the dining hall with our mother and father sitting on the other side of the table from us. A cake sits in the middle. 

********“Happy birthday, my darlings.”** ** ** **

Our father only nodded his head in our direction. My younger self brightened up at the sight of the cake. The presents weren’t visible but I knew there would be a good amount but I would be glad if there were presents in the first place. That meant we had earned them this year, that our father was proud of us. Unless our mother had just bought them for us since she loved to spoil us when we were younger. I already knew the answer, though. 

********“You will get your presents once your Hogwarts letters arrive.”** ** ** **

********"What if the letters don't arrive?"** ** ** **

********"Don't be ridiculous. You are Malfoys, of course you will get in."** ** ** **

********"But what if we don't?"** ** ** **

********"Then you will be sent to some other wizarding school. Far from me so I won't have to live you."** ** ** **

********"Lucius!"** ** ** **

********"What? Everyone knows Hogwarts is the easiest wizarding school to get into with Dumbledore as the headmaster. If they don't get in, it would ruin my reputation."** ** ** **

Weasley snorts but Draco and I don't even snap at him, just sunk in our seats. Pansy rests a hand on my shoulder and its comforting but not enough. Some of the Gryffindors, including Potter and Granger, glance our way but I ignore the stares that pierce through my brothers and I's skulls. 

**"Is, is that true?" Hannah asks, "That you really would have sent away if you didn't get in?"**

****

****

>I nod, "Our father made it very clear to us that if we made a fool of ourselves or dissapointed him, we would be sent away to Drumstrang, or worse." 

The conversation ends there when Hannah sees neither of us want to talk about what would be worse. 

On screen, our mother opens her mouth to reply but is interuptted. The floo sounded and someone entered the manor. The two kids turn around and grin at the person. He was dressed in all black and held two presents in his hands along with a letter. They run up to hug him. 

********“Uncle Sev!”** ** ** **

Weasley stutters, “Uncle?” 

Draco rolls his eyes, “Professor Snape is our godfather.” 

Potter and his gang seem to wince at the fact. They will be surprised at what emotion Severus can show. I glance up at him sitting at the table and he catches my eye, the corner of his mouth lifting upwards. I smile back. 

********“Draco, Cass. Happy birthday.” ******** ** **

************“Are those for us?!” ******** ** ** ** **

My father looks up at that and warns him with a low voice. **“Severus…”**

********************“Now, now. Come on Lucius, let the kids have their presents. Plus, I have a surprise for you two.”** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

Young Draco and I grab our respected presents and rip them open. I’m more gentler than my brother but he gasps as he holds up a book. It was about psychology and the wizard mind when spells are applied to them. I wasn’t interested in that stuff but at a young age, Draco would read anything he could about it. My gift was a plain bracelet with pendants on it. There was a snake, a crown, a flower and a cat. You could buy more but I loved it already. But then I noticed the small bag which when I opened it, held a necklace. The pendant on it was a healing crystal. Those crystals inhanced healing spells and coud cure small injuries. I gasped and with a stern look from Severus, I hid it from my parents piercing gaze. 

Then he hands us both a letter. It has the Hogwarts stamp on it. **“We got in?!”**

************************“Yes, I asked Headmaster Dumbledore if I could personally deliver your letters and he said I could. Now, I must be off. I have a few muggle born students to talk to.”** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

And then he was off, walking out of the door so he could aparate away. Our father addressed us with an approving look, **“Well done. Your presents are in the tea room.”**

**************************“Don’t forget, your friends are coming over this afternoon.”** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

We both nod at our mother and dash off to the tea room. The scene switches again to the tea room. Just like I said before, there were a lot of presents but not as many as Potter’s cousin got. We giggled and darted into the room and began to open them. The scene then finally ended, turning black. 

It was quiet in the room as we waited for the next clip to start but nothing happened. Headmaster Dumbledore noticed and he pressed a button on the box and a pause symbol showed up on the screen. He stood up and looked at me for a second before gazing around the room. 

“Well, it appears that we have come to the end of the first section of the CD. Let’s take this time to take a break. Games are over there with lunch and rooms for sleeping or talking.” He then winks at us and I look up at him in disgust. Not all of us were going to do what he was suggesting, some of us were single. 

I’m glad though that we don’t have to watch more. That little snippet of our eleventh birthday wasn’t long and didn’t show much but it already was too much for me. This was only the first section of the CD and there were seventeen more to go, plus eight more CD’s to get through. I don’t know if I could handle it. Pansy and Draco lead me over to the games and food and I decide not to overthink this too much. Right now, I should be hanging out with my friends and not worrying over the past. Daphne comes over to us holding up Monopoly, a muggle game that Grace and Millie introduced us to. Pansy holds up Twister and Blaise wants to play Risk while Draco is already setting up a card game, either poker or uno. I grin, feeling at home, and sit down with my friends as they all fight over what to play. Of course, I’m the tiebreaker and I vote for uno so my brother deals out seven cards to each of us. 

This might actually be a fun time, especially since I’ve got two plus four’s in my deck. I’ve been meaning to get payback on Blaise for stacking 15 cards onto my pile last time. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! I am so sorry for not updating in forever. 
> 
> I thought I had published this chapter but apparently I have not. I'm very confused. Oh well, I'm working on the next chapter after this so don't worry. I'm not going anywhere for a while. 
> 
> Also, Cass has been changing a lot through the chapters, she was nice in the other one but I bit meaner in this one. I would like to just say that she is still a Malfoy and though she knows that not all muggles are bad or that stuff, she still doesn’t like the Gryffindors. Also in this chapter, there isn’t as much drarry because I forgot that the two had a crush on each other (i thought they were still oblivious). 
> 
> Draco is still mean as well because well like it says in the summary, old habits die hard. I also fixed the mistake with adding Vincent. In this, Vincent held on still and Cass ran in and stopped the fire. Vincent survived but severely burned so he was sent to St. Mungos and got out in time to go to 8th year. He doesn't blame Draco but Draco does. 
> 
> This is a new style that I have to use for watching their movies because otherwise ao3 will shut down this fanfic because of copyright. I also can't add what is happening on screen in the description. 
> 
> I suggest opening up a website with the Harry Potter script and reading along with that if it helps you or watching the movie alongside this. 
> 
> Oh and Happy Holidays!!!!
> 
> Gabby :)


	5. so we'll just let things take their course and never be sorry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> \- i wish that i could say  
> i am a light  
> that never goes out  
> but i flicker from  
> time to time -
> 
> Cassiopeia knew that the Slytherins could be a bit... chaotic but she guesses that the other houses have never quite experienced the wonders of game nights with the snakes. The Gryffindors, especially, only know them as cruel and evil who will do anything to get there way. And the scenes of their lives this 'Samantha' is showing on the screen is only proving their point. 
> 
> Sometimes, Cass just wishes they could all be friends without constantly being reminded of what they did wrong.

Apparently, no one else knew how aggressive and loud we Slytherins got when playing games or that we knew what muggle games were. Southern had many muggle-born and half-bloods and Millicent introduced them to the games in Year 4 when wizard games weren’t as fun as they used to be.

It happened after we played a few rounds of Uno and moved onto Monopoly, a terrible choice since some people were still upset from losing Uno. Everything was going fine until people began to cheat- or more like people started getting caught cheating. Draco was a banker for some unknown reason and he was the only one who wasn’t suffering from not enough money. Pansy wrapped her arms around Draco to keep warm and instead pulled out paper money from the sleeves and pockets of his robes. 

Then it was Tracey next who always landed on ‘go to jail’ but was out the next round, saying she had a ‘get out of jail free’ card. Someone should have been checking because when another argument was happening in the group, I spotted Tracey moving her little flip phone out of jail. Since Tracey and Draco and a few others, including Astoria who had two pieces on the board and so she got two turns somehow, Blaise who was stealing property cards without buying them and Millicent who was silently moving her piece a few spaces ahead to get the place she wanted, I decided to end the game. By flipping the board in a hissy fit. 

Monopoly was banned from the Slytherins after that incident and we were stuck with doing puzzles for the rest of break. When Headmaster Dumbledore called everyone back to their seats, the tension on the Slytherin side was noticeable to everyone, even the oblivious Gryffindors. I had hoped no one would bother us while we waited for the next CD to load but that was impossible when you befriend Hufflepuffs. 

“Oh come on now guys, why don’t we all apologize and hug it out? Hmmm?” Sally-Anne looks over to us with a pleading look in her eyes. 

Susan rolls her eyes, “Like that’s gonna happen.” 

“If Draco would just admit he cheated then everything would be fine.” Blaise spits out, his arms crossed over his chest.

“Me? Weren’t you the one taking properties without buying them?” Draco sneers and I groan loudly. 

Pansy huffs, “Don’t act all annoyed Cass, you cheated too.”

Now this got my attention. I could lie and say I didn’t cheat but then this argument would go for weeks. I could say the truth and then be bombarded by the others yelling at me. “And what exactly did I do?” Hopefully my innocent face was as convincing as my mother told me. 

She scoffs, “Please, don’t act all innocent. You were hiding money in your clothes just like Draco was.” 

Before I could respond and tell her that, yes I was cheating but not like that, Draco stood up, “I was not hiding money!” 

I groaned again, “Draco, this happens every time you are a banker.”

“How can you be a banker and _not_ take some money for yourself? Not that I did.” 

I raise one eyebrow and stuff my hand into his robe pocket and pull out a handful of paper money. A blush spreads on his cheeks but I just laugh and hand them back to him. Everyone else seems to calm down but I know that once we get back to the common room later that someone will bring it up again and this whole thing will start again. 

“Silence, please.” Headmaster Dumbledore claps his hands together and the candle light dims, “The next section of the CD is about to start.” 

**“Oh, Marge is ill! [...]”**

“Marge?” Weasley asks, “Like your aunt that you blew-”

Potter flushes and clamps his hand over Weasley’s mouth. I share a look with my brother but he just shrugs, not sure what the two were talking about. 

**“Dad! [...] got a letter!”**

**“[...] It’s mine!”**

**“Yours? [...]”**

I hear Draco mutter, “Properly from another one of his adoring fans.” and I’m thankful that no one hears it. Just from these glimpses in Potter’s life I can tell he wasn’t as loved as we believed him to be. 

‘’Is that your Hogwarts letter, mate?” Weasley asks.and Potter nods. 

**“No more mail [...]”**

“Did, did he just nail the mailbox shut?” Granger asks, staring at the screen with wide eyes. 

Blaise leans closer and whispers, “What’s a mailbox?”

Millicent answers, “Instead of owls coming to your window, a muggle person delivers the letters to your house and they leave them in this box outside your house.”

**“Have [...] lovely day [...]”**

**“Shoo! [...]”**

**“Fine day Sunday. [...] best day [...]”**

**"[...] no post on Sunday?”**

**“Ah, right you are, [...] No blasted letters [...]”**

Everyone starts laughing when hundreds of letters shoot out of the fireplace. I wished I had something to take a picture of Vernon and his family’s face. Potter chuckles softly as well.

**“AHH! [...]”**

**“Go away, [...]”**

**“[...] what’s happening!”**

Everyone cheers when Potter grabs a letter but I frown, “Why didn’t you run out of the house? Or grab one from the floor?” 

Potter shrugs, “I was a bit in shock at what was happening, didn’t really have time to think of a plan.” 

**“Give me that! [...]”**

**“Get off! [...]”**

**“Ahh!”**

**“[...] my letters! [...]”**

“That’s a lot of letters, couldn’t one of the professors just go and get him?” Pansy asks and I have to agree, it’s a lot of paper and effort wasted. 

There’s silence from the professor’s table and I know they are embarrassed of not doing that sooner. Potter replies, “Well they do, in the end but I don’t think they needed to send that many letters beforehand.”

**“[...] We’re going away! [...]”**

**“Daddy’s gone mad, [...]”**

More laughter fills the room at Petunia’s face and everyone agrees with Dudley. The atmosphere changes to a more somber feeling along with the setting change on the screen. I gasp and hear Draco’s breath hitch next to me. 

**“Make a wish, [...]”**

“Aw, Harry!” Granger sighs and hugs Potter who is sitting next to her. He hugs back, mumbling something to her and soon Weasley is joining them with the rest of them as well. 

I’m not sure what to do and I can tell neither do any of the Slytherins. For the past seven years, Potter’s been our enemy and even if he wasn’t directly my enemy, he was Draco’s and everyone knew Draco was the face of Slytherin. Now, that was all over but it still didn’t feel right to comfort someone you barely know, someone that not long ago you were teasing and making fun of. 

**“Who’s there? [...]”**

A few girls, Lavender and the twins, scream as the door to the house breaks down. I jump back from shock and Pansy grips my hand tightly, her long nails digging into my skin. 

**“Sorry [...]”**

Everyone seems to relax at the familiar face and I see Hagrid brighten up at seeing himself on the screen again. Personally, I hope I don’t see myself, or any of the Slytherins, up on the screen for a long time or better yet, never again. Knowing Dumbledore though, the chance of that is unlikely. 

**“[...] leave at once, [...]”**

“What is he holding?” Vincent asks, pointing at the gun in Vernon’s hands.

“It’s a gun, Vince. Muggles use them to defend themselves but they are also used in wars. In some countries though they aren’t legal or can’t be bought or sold.” Millie replies and rolls her eyes at the confused expression on his face. 

Seamus Finnigan looks over at them, “Hey, how’d you know that? Thought all you purebloods thought muggles were inferior and a waste of your time.” 

I groan quietly in my hands as I see through the cracks in my fingers Millicent sitting up to her full height, staring Finnigan full on, “I’m a half-blood. Not all Slytherins are purebloods and none of us actually think that way.” 

“What about Malfoy, huh? He’s a death eater!” Weasley yells and I bury myself even further into my hands. 

“Ex-death eater.” My brother replies and when he says nothing else, I speak up.

“And it’s called ‘acting’, Weasley.” 

Weasley growls, “That still explains nothing!”

I sigh and say, “Listen, Weasley. What do you think would have happened if I told my father, the death eater, that I didn’t agree with his ways, do you think he would have taken it kindly?” 

No one says anything in response, either they can’t think of what to say back or too busy processing what just happened. I can tell though that my words didn’t have a big effect on the majority of the Gryffindors. I’m not surprised, old habits die hard just like superstitions and stereotypes.

**“[...] you great prune. [...] since you was a baby, [..] round the middle!”**

Everyone shrieks at the gun firing and it takes both Draco and Pansy’s nails digging into my palm to bring me back to the present. It sounded like an exploding spell or body parts snapping. _I’m not there anymore, He’s not here anymore._ I repeat to myself in my head, _The war is over, the war is over._

**“[...] not Harry.”**

**“I-I am.”**

**“[..] course you are! [...] Baked it myself. [...]”**

I smile at the cake. Though it doesn't look like much, compared to the dirt cake Potter drew on the floor earlier, it’s much better and edible. The only thing the dirt one had was candles and ‘Happy Birthday’ spelt correctly. 

“Thanks Hagrid for that. It was really special to me.” Potter says, grinning up at Hagrid at the table.

Hagrid sniffs and wipes a tear with his handkerchief, “Don’t go thanking me, Harry. The way those muggles were treating ya, you deserved more than a cake.”

“Still, best present I’ve ever gotten.” 

It’s so sincere that I don’t know how Hagrid doesn’t burst into tears. The other Slytherins pretend to gag at the moment but I just sit in my seat in silence. These heartfelt moments were unknown to us so we laughed at it. Thought it was a weakness. Whatever our parents disapproved of was not allowed: muggleborn friends, hugs, touching, even smiling for stricter families like mine. Showing emotions, like love, was prohibited. I wondered sometimes what it would have been like to grow up in a loving family or at least have someone in my life like Potter had Hagrid and Granger and the Weasley’s. It hurt to think of what could have been.

**“Thank you!”**

**“[...] not every day [...] turns eleven, [...]”**

**“[...] who are you?”**

“You only ask that after he sits down and gives you a cake?” The girl Weasley says, giving him a look that I often gave to my brother which meant, ‘Seriously?’ or ‘How dumb are you?’.

Potter shrugs, “After getting my house trashed with owls and letters, this wasn’t that weird.” 

My brother looks at me like he’s reconsidering the crush he is habouring on Potter and I nod, “He’s got a point.” 

**“Rubeus Hagrid. [...] about Hogwarts.”**

**“[...], no.”**

“No? [...] learned it all?”

**“Learned what?”**

**“[...] a wizard, [...]”**

“That’s how you told him?” Daphne asks from behind me, flabbergasted, “My parents sat me down when I was little and had a proper conversation about everything.” 

Hagrid scratches the back of his neck, looking sheepish, “Well, uh, I wasn’t really prepared to tell Harry he was a wizard. Dumbl’dore said he’d know already an' be expecting this.”

“Must have been a real shock for you, huh mate?” Weasley asks Potter and he just laughs. 

**“That’s an understatement.”**

**“[...] a what?”**

**“A wizard. [...] train up a little.”**

**“[..] made a mistake. [...] Just Harry.”**

**“Well, just Harry. [...] ever make anything happen? [...]”**

“Finally!” I shout and it isn’t until everyone snaps their head to look at me, I realise I said it outloud. Draco sits me back down and glares at anyone who looks at me weirdly. 

**“Dear, Mr Potter. [...] you have been accepted [...]”**

**“He’ll not be going! [...] this rubbish!”**

**“You knew? [...]**

**“[...] How could you not be? [...] A freak! [...] just as… abnormal. [...] And we got landed with you.”**

**“Blown up? [...] car crash!”**

**“A car crash? [...]”**

“How dare she call you a freak! How dare she call us freaks!” Granger stands up, “How dare she lie to you about your parents!”

“‘Mione, it’s okay. Sit down.” Potter places a hand on her shoulder but she pushes it away.

“No! This is not okay! She, they-” She bursts into tears and wraps Potter into a hug. 

**“[...] tell him something.”**

**“It’s an outrage! [...]”**

**“[...] not be going!”**

**“[...] going to stop him, are you?”**

**“Muggle?”**

**“Non magic folk. [...] the finest school [...] the finest headmaster [...]”**

Hagrid grins at Dumbledore who smiles back. 

“Are we just gonna ignore Dudley?” Pansy says, “Even Vince and Greg aren’t that low to eat someone else’s birthday cake.” 

The two nod along before stopping, “Was that an indirect insult?” 

“No, darlings.”

“I think it was.”

Pansy and I stare at each other, our answers completely different and confusing the two boys even more. We start laughing. 

Draco next to me is furrowing his brow and asks me, “Didn’t they eat our birthday cake at our ninth birthday party?”

It’s silent and Pansy sighs, “They probably did. Why do I even bother?” 

**“[...] some crackpot old fool [...] magic tricks!”**

**“Never insult Albus Dumledore [...]”**

**“Ahh!”**

I snort and everyone laughs at the pig tail on Dudley’s bottom. The only one who seems not to be laughing is Justin Finch-Fletchley which makes me laugh even louder. Draco notices and grins.

“Hey, Flinch-Fletchy! Remind you of the good ol’ days?” Draco can barely stop from laughing, a smirk on his face.

Justin scowls, “Shut up, Malfoy.” 

We crack up harder than before until Dumbledore hushes us and we focus back on the movie. The incident was a while back when Justin had taken a fancy in me after puberty hit me. I told him no of course but he didn’t seem to get the hint so Draco and I played a small prank on him and he ended up with pig ears and a tail and a snout. 

**“[...] didn’t tell anyone at Hogwarts [...] I’m not allowed [...]”**

**“Okay.”**

Hagrid glances at Dumbledore who only smiles, “It’s all in the past now, Hagrid. I thank you though for doing what I did not. I should have taken Harry out of there when he was younger but I was being selfish, thinking it was the only way to protect him when I knew it was not.”

I can tell Hagrid is sniffling again and even Potter looks like he will cry. He forces it down though, by the way his face goes from smiling to cold. There’s something going between him and Dumbledore. Perhaps a grudge for keeping him in that terrible home with those muggles. I assume Dumbledore was the one who kept him there because of the beginning of the movie and what he just said to Hagrid. 

**“[...] we’re a bit behind [...] Unless you’d rather stay, [...]”**

I find myself grinning along with young Potter on the screen. Draco is even smiling as well. I have to admit, Potter was a cute child and I think Draco’s realising it as well. He didn’t get much time to think about that in 1st year when he was busy tormenting him but it was obvious even then that Draco was a bit too obsessed with Potter. The crush was no surprise to me and I’m pretty sure Pansy and Blaise know as well. Dread inched up my throat at a sudden thought, would Draco’s obsession/crush be shown on the screen? Would mine?

“The next part is in Diagon Alley. After, there are a few clips of some of your fellow students in Diagon Alley as well.” Dumbledore announces and my stomach twists and turns at that. I wish he would just tell us who was going to be shown to at least prepare me. 

**“All students must [...] find all this in London?”**

**“[...] know where to go.”**

“Not ominous at all.” Tracey mumbles. 

Draco sneers at the screen and I fight back the urge to do so as well. If I want to get better, I have to stop acting superior and thinking places that others go to that purebloods don’t, like the Leaky Cauldron, are disgusting. I elbow my brother in the ribs, letting him know his reaction is unnecessary. I wouldn’t bother usually but in a room full of Gryffindors, it’s risky showing emotions, especially negative ones. Those always get twisted against you.

**“Ah, Hagrid! [...]”**

**“No thanks, Tom. [...] helping young Harry here [...]”**

**“[...] It’s Harry Potter.”**

**“Welcome back, [...]”**

**“[...] I’m meeting you at last.”/**

“Of course Potter had fans as soon as he came into the wizarding world.” My brother snarls quickly to himself and luckily, none of the Gryffindors hear. I nudged him again but this time, it’s more softly, a concerned look on my face. He shakes his head. I know something is bothering him but I don’t want to push. 

******“Harry P-potter. [...]”** ** **

Even from here, I can hear Potter’s jaw snap shut. The whole student body knew about Professor Quirrell who had been fired for working with the Dark Lord but no one knew the real situation. I had heard from someone that Potter had faced off against Quirrell himself so seeing him again on the screen must be shocking. 

**“[...], this is Professor Quirrell. [...] Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher [...]”**

******“[...] meet you.”** ** **

“That’s already a red flag, refusing a handshake.” Anthony Goldstein says. 

His friend, Micheal Corner, shrugs, “Well, we all thought he was just scared a lot. It wasn’t really out of the ordinary for him.” 

“Yeah, but remember how he took this vacation the year before us and he came back all stuttering.” Anthony replies. 

Someone from the back of the Ravenclaw section speaks up, “I had him for Muggle Studies and he was quite different. Never stuttered, curious and could hold a conversation. Then he came back to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts and it was like he was another person.” 

It was Lucy Faun, second older sister to Matilda Faun and my cousin. She was two years older than me so she had already graduated from Hogwarts. I had forgotten though, that Professor Quirrell was a Muggle Studies teacher before he was a Defence against the Dark Arts. That he must have been a regular professor back then. 

******“[...] not that you need it, e-eh Potter? [...]”** ** **

******“[...], must be going now. [...]”** ** **

******“Goodbye.”** ** **

“Always got a weird feeling being ‘round Quirrell.” Hagrid says, shuddering. 

******“[...], you’re famous!”** ** **

******“But why [...] know who I am?”** ** **

“Everyone knows who Harry Potter is, saviour of the wizarding world,” Draco mutters and I rest my head on his shoulder, “And everyone knows me, death-eater.” 

“Ex-death eater.” I correct, “And that’s why we’re watching these CD’s. Perhaps after, everyone will know us as misunderstood children who had no choice.” 

Draco sighs deeply and it ricochets through my spine, “Maybe.” 

******“I’m not exactly sure [...] Welcome, Harry, to Diagon Alley [...]”** ** **

Granger sighs heavenly, “I remember when I first saw Diagon Alley. It was magnificent, still is.” 

Weasley shrugs, “Eh, I thought it was alright.” 

“Didn’t you get so excited to finally be able to do magic and get your wizarding things?” Granger asks, her eyes wide with awe, probably thinking of her time in Diagon Alley. 

“Sure but by the time it was my turn, I had already been there four times for the others. Besides, most of my stuff was hand-me downs.” Weasley replies and he sneaks a glance towards the Slytherins. No one says anything against his family and their amount of money so he relaxes back in his chair. 

******“[...] new Nimbus 2000! [...]”** ** **

I snort, “Not the fastest anymore.” 

“Bet Harry could still beat you Slytherins with that model.” Seamus Finnigan exclaims and the other boys cheer, agreeing. 

I glare at them. I wasn’t trying to start a fight, I was just pointing out the obvious. Tracey, who always loved Quidditch even though she didn’t play, smirked, “You’re on. Next break, let’s play a match. Gryffindor vs Slytherin. You can choose your team as well, and it doesn't have to be the old ones cause you might want to replace a few people on your team, Potter.” 

Tracey non subtly glances at a few choice students that were on the Gryffindor Quidditch team before. 

Terry Boot yells, “Hey! What about us?” 

Susan grins, “You wanna play a match too? Fun game, Hufflepuff vs Ravenclaw while the other two settle their bet or whatever they’re doing.” 

Hannah frowns, “We don’t have enough people though for full teams.” 

“Well anyone who doesn’t get in the other teams can join us.” Susan declares, loud enough for everyone to hear. 

“Who’s our team gonna be?” I ask Draco, who was technically our captain. 

He ponders it for a moment before announcing, “Well, I’ll be seeker. We got Tracey to be keeper and you, Blaise and Theo as chasers. That leaves, Millicent and Greg as the beaters.” 

I nod, agreeing with the team. Vincent wouldn’t be allowed to play with his burns. Though they had healed, he wasn’t allowed to play sports. Pansy and Daphne were more into cheering for the team rather than playing. 

“Um, what about me?” Astoria says, “I want to be part of the team.” 

“You can be chaser, I’m fine not playing. I can just join Ravenclaw anyways if I change my mind.” Theo says and then that’s settled. He wasn’t on the old Quidditch team but whenever they played small games within their group, Theo wasn’t bad. I hadn’t seen Astoria play before but from the determined look on her face and Rose and David grinning, she must be good. 

Dumbledore claps his hands and we all focus back to the screen. 

******“[...] I haven’t any money.” ******** **

**“[...] Gringotts, the Wizard Bank.” ******

****

****

The Ravenclaw Patil twin, Padma I think her name is, raises an eyebrow, “Wasn’t this the year that someone got in and tried to steal something from a vault? How is it one the safest place?” 

Potter scratches the back of his neck, “Well that only happened because-” 

“SHHHHHHH!” 

A mysterious voice, seemingly coming from the ceiling, hushes Potter and he shuts up almost automatically. “Sorry to scare you. I’m Samantha, the one who gave you these CD’s. I’ll only speak when someone is about to say a spoiler and I cast a _silencio_ on you.” 

Padma speaks up, “So I won’t find out until later?” 

“Exactly. The movie will answer your questions and if it doesn’t, once it is shown, people can explain it to you.” 

The girl nods though she looks sad since she won’t get to know how Gringotts was broken into. I was interested as well because if I remember correctly, there was a whole newspaper article about the stolen item, which was never named. I wonder if they ever found the culprit or got it back. 

**************“[...] are these things?”** ** ** ** ** ** **

**************“They’re goblins, [...] wishes to make a withdrawal.”** ** ** ** ** ** **

I agree with Hagrid. Goblins were quite smart and the best for the job in Gringotts but they weren’t the most kind. Our father liked them since they were straightforward and didn’t question what his business was in Gringotts. Our aunt on the other hand found them useless, probably because you couldn’t negotiate with them like other people. 

**************“[...] have his key?”** ** ** ** ** ** **

**************“[...] Got it here somewhere. [...] there’s something else [...] about you-know-what [...]”** ** ** ** ** ** **

**************“Very well.”** ** ** ** ** ** **

Theo creases his eyebrows together, “Now my interest has peaked.” 

“It’s all very secretive,” Draco says, “I don’t like it.” 

Blaise rolls his eyes, “You don’t like a lot of things, Draco.” 

“I do so!” Draco retorts. 

“You don’t like my nicknames for you.” Pansy says. 

“That’s because it's embarrassing.” 

“Or peacocks.” I add in. 

He turns to glare at me, “Peacocks are vicious beasts that pretend they are majestic to lure you in and bite you.” 

“Sounds like you.” Blaise mutters under his breath. 

Draco’s head snaps his head to stare at him, “Would you like to repeat that Blaise?” 

Blaise doesn’t reply to him so the movie continues playing. 

**************“Vault 697. [...]”** ** ** ** ** ** **

**************“Didn’t [...] leave you with nothing [...]”** ** ** ** ** ** **

All the Slytheirns are staring wide eye at the amount of galleons in the vault. They had more, of course, pureblood families saved for generations but it was still impressive. 

Weasley must see the expressions on our face and grins, “More than what your family, Malfoy?” 

“Our families have been saving money for generations, we have more than that.” Draco responds, “It’s just- that’s quite a lot for not being from one of the old pureblood families.” 

“I’ll take that as a compliment, Malfoy.” Potter says and Draco’s face flushes red. He hadn't meant it as a compliment but now that he went over his reply in his head, it did sound like one. 

**************“Vault 713.”** ** ** ** ** ** **

**************“[...] in there, [...]?”** ** ** ** ** ** **

**************“Can’t tell you, [...] Very secret.”** ** ** ** ** ** **

Everyone groaned, hoping Potter would have been able to get the answer out from Hagrid. No such luck it seemed. Not only did they want to know who got into Gringotts and tried to steal something and how but what they wanted to know what Hagrid had to get for Hogwarts. What was so special about it? It didn’t look like money. Why was it a secret? 

Pansy whispers in my ear, “I think that vault was the one the person tried to steal from because it happened on the same day and when the person got to the vault, it had already been emptied.” 

I groan softly, “Why does everything always have to connect with Hogwarts?” 

Pansy giggles but she doesn’t have an answer to my question. It was true though, why couldn’t Harry Potter have gone to a different wizarding school like Drumstrang and had fun over there. 

**“Stand back.”.**

******************“[...] not mention this [...]”** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

Potter looks sheepish as Granger and Weasley laugh. Hagrid just smiles at them, shaking his head. Obviously he told the other two; they were inseparable. I was surprised when Potter didn’t tell the others about the mission Dumbledore gave us but with Dumbledore, Potter is like his minion. He’ll do anything for Dumbledore. 

******************“[...] a wand.”** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

******************“[...], you’ll want Ollivanders. [...] Run along there, but wait. [...]”** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

******************“Hello? [...]”** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

******************“[...] when I’d be seeing you, [...] Here we are. [...] Curious, very curious.”** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

“Mate, that was a lot of wands you went through!” Weasley exclaims. It had only been the fourth one that chose Potter. 

Potter laughs, “Yeah, broke a lot of stuff in the shop as well.” 

“It took Draco a while to find his wand, Almost six different wands.” I say. 

Pansy nods, “Didn’t he shatter the windows too?” 

Draco huffs at both of us, “You know I’m picky, why would it be different with my magic? Besides, I wasn’t that confident with my right hand anyways.” 

“Couldn’t hold a wand, Malfoy?” 

He turns his attention to Weasley and the Gryffindors, who, as usual, were eavesdropping, “I could hold a wand, Wealsey. Anyone can. I was left-handed as a child though and my father had me switch to my right hand since left-handed children were seen as bad omens. I’m fine now but it took a few months before it was comfortable doing magic with that hand.” 

Katrina rolls her eyes, “That’s still the most ridiculous superstition I’ve heard. I’m left-handed and look at me!” 

Grace raised an eyebrow at her and Katrina frowned, “Okay, fine. Maybe I’m not the best example.” 

The rest of the students seemed confused so I explained, “Left-handed people were uncommon back then and believed to be worse at magic. So all children were taught to do magic and write with their right hand. It’s an old superstition now but families still follow the tradition.” 

******************“[...] what’s curious?”** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

******************“I remember every wand [...] its brother gave you that scar.”** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

******************“[...] owned that wand?”** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

******************“[...] The wand chooses the wizard. [...] He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things [...]”** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

Lavender Brown gasps, “Your wand is the brother to You-Know-Who’s wand?!” 

“Yes and you can say Voldemort’s name now, Lavender.” Potter replies. 

We all flinch at the blatant use of the Dark Lord’s name. I still use Dark Lord because even though I don’t care, I’m used to it. It isn’t fear of his name but rather, the memories of him and the feeling that he will come if you say his name. Probably because of the taboo put on his name during the war. It brought fear to his name and made me, who didn’t care before, say Dark Lord. I didn’t want to be seen as a traitor. 

******************“[...] Happy birthday!”** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

******************“Wow.”** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

Draco and I glance at each other. We were thinking of the same thing. How two days ago we stole that same owl. I wonder if Potter had forgiven us for it. It was all a simple misunderstanding. If I had known it was his owl, I would have taken someone else’s. 

Looking at the screen, I had to admit that despite the terrible name, Hedwig was a beautiful owl. Her snowy white feathers and bright eyes. Hagrid must have bought one of the more expensive ones because Hedwig seemed like the type of owl that could be found in the Malfoy owlery. One of the smaller, cheaper ones but still, she could be one. 

********************“[...] You seem very quiet.”** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

********************“He killed my parents, [...] I know you do.”** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

********************“[...] Not all wizard are good. [...] his name was V-”** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

********************“[...] wrote it down?”** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

********************“[...] Voldemort.”** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

More people flinch again at the name though most saw it coming because of the topic of the conversation. It was dark and so I didn’t even bother looking over at Potter because I knew most people would be. 

********************“Voldemort?”** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

********************“Shh!!”** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

A few laughed at young Potter’s confused face but most weren’t going to risk laughing at a sad moment like this. 

**“ It was dark times [...] Your parents fought against him [...] ‘Cept you.”**

It’s silent in the room and Potter stands up and goes into the side room. My eyes are wide. Of course this was about Potter but I didn’t think we’d watch what happened that night. The screams of his mother… I don’t know how I’d handle hearing my mother’s death, not alone, people watching it. 

“I’ll- I’ll go check on him.” Granger stands up. 

“‘Mione.” Wealsey says, grabbing onto her arm, “I think you should leave him be. Might be best if he has some time alone right now.” 

“No one should be alone. Not after that.” Granger responds and yanks her arm out of his arm, walking over to the room. Weasley follows afterwards with a sigh. The movie continues once they leave. 

**“Me? [...]”**

********************“[...] ain’t no ordinary cut [...] an evil curse at that.”** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

********************“[...] to You-Know-Who?”** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

********************“Well, some say he died. [...] I reckon he’s out there [...] You’re the boy who lived.”** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

The section of the CD cuts off and Dumbledore pauses it as Potter comes out of the room, his eyes red and puffy around the outside, with Granger and Weasley following after him. 

“Er, sorry ‘bout that. Just didn’t expect to see them, or that night.” Potter says once he’s sat down. 

“It’s quite alright, Harry. You are welcome to leave at any time, all of you are. I should have warned you but I did not know it would be on the CD.” Dumbledore smiles at Potter before addressing all of us, “Now it seems there are some clips of students going Hogwarts shopping in Diagon Alley. Let’s watch, shall we?” 

I already knew we’d be shown since Draco and I met Potter in Diagon Alley in the robe shop. Draco was a real jerk but I wonder if Potter remembers our first interaction with each other or if he just assumed it was at Hogwarts. Either way, Draco didn’t make the best impression on Potter. 

A short girl with dirty blonde hair, pale skin and glasses stumbles through the barrier into Diagon Alley, her parents and her younger sister behind her. Her sister had short mousy brown hair and did not look happy to be there. I know who it is and send a grin to Grace behind who pokes her tongue out at me. 

**“Come on, Sofia! We have to stick together, Diagon Alley can get very crowded.”** Her mother tells her younger daughter, Sofia, who reluctantly grabs her mother’s hand. 

**“Look Fia!”** Grace points at the animals in the window of a shop, getting her sisters attention. 

“Aw! Look at how cute you were!” Pansy cooed at young Grace. 

On the screen, Sofia presses her face against the glass with a look of wonder on her face. **“Can we get one?”** She asks her parents. 

**“Well, according to your mother, Grace can bring a pet to Hogwarts so I don’t see why not!”** Their father smiles and the two girls cheer. 

**“Can you get a cat? They’re so pretty.”** Sofia asks her sister. 

********************“Sure, but you do know you can pick a pet when you go to Hogwarts, right?”** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

********************“I do?”** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

**“Yep, mum says she got an owl when she went.”** Grace explains and her sister is staring wide eyed at her now. 

**“Woah, I can’t wait to get my letter!”** Sofia cheers and the two giggle. 

“Where’s your sister now?” Hannah asks Grace. 

She shakes her head, “Sofia didn’t get a letter. I was the only witch in my family, besides mum.” 

“Oh.” 

“But, our parents still got her a cat when she turned eleven so she wasn’t too upset.” Grace smiles. 

The screen goes black and then turns back on. A young boy with dark brown hair to match his skin was staring at the Nimbus 2000 broom. Dean Thomas groans and Finnigan laughs, patting him on the back. The scene doesn't last long, he talks with another boy who he doesn’t seem to know very well about wishing he had the broom. It quickly changes. 

It’s young Hannah next, her blonde hair in two pigtails, and she’s standing on a stool in a robe shop. I look over at Hannah and we share a look. Hopefully this isn’t the part where Draco and I come in and insult her house choice. I speak too soon because the door chimes sound and two children walk through the door. Its my brother and I. 

**“Decide which one of you will go first and stand on the stool next to the young lady.”** The woman at the counter says. 

“I’m just going to say sorry in advance, Hannah.” I apologise and Draco nods as well. 

She just laughs, “We’re friends, I’ve already forgiven you. Besides, I really should be saying sorry to Draco for how I acted.” 

He shrugs, “That’s how everyone acts anyways.” 

**“You go.”** My younger self whispers to my brother. 

Young Draco replies, **“No you.”** and pushes me towards the stool. I scowl at him but he’s already sat down in the chair nearby and looking out the window. 

**“Are you going to Hogwarts too?”** Young Hannah asks me. 

I nod, **“Yep, I’m guessing you are as well?”**

**“Yeah. I’m Hannah.”** She doesn’t wait for me to reply. **“What house do you think you’ll be in? I’m hoping for Hufflepuff, they seem friendly.”** Hannah says, smiling so wide that I can see the gap between her two front teeth. 

Young Draco snorts into his hand behind them and Hannah swirls her head around to look at him, **“Is something funny?”**

My younger self rolls my eyes, **“Ignore him, he’s just being a prat. I’m Cassiopeia Black and that’s my cousin, Draco Malfoy.”**

Hannah’s eyes widen, **“Malfoy? Oh, um…”**

**“You’re all set, dear.”** The woman measuring Hannah says and Hannah rushes off with her new robes. She doesn’t even bother saying goodbye. She pays for her robes with money her mother gave her and leaves the shop 

**“I can’t believe I just met a Malfoy.”** Young Hannah mumbles to herself. 

**“Met who?”**

**“Mum!”** Hannah looks up to see the stranger is her mother and she relaxes, **“Oh, it's nothing. Just meet some kids going to Hogwarts as well.”**

**“Were they nice?”**

Young Hannah shrugs, **“Eh.”**

**“Oh well, they’ll be plenty of others.”** Her mother wraps her arm around Hannah’s shoulder, **“Come on, let’s go get an ice cream, hmm.”**

Hannah smiles widely again and leans into her mother, giving her a half hug, **“Really! You’re the best mum.”**

The scene goes black but before I can apologise again to Hannah, the next scene shows. It’s the robe shop again but this time, it’s just me and Draco but now he is up on a stool next to me. 

**“Did you have to be so rude!”** My younger self berates my brother. 

**“She’s the one who was rude. Besides, Hufflepuff? Really?”** Young Draco stares at me with a ‘Come on.’ expression on his face. 

**“Oh, shut up. I hope you get into Hufflepuff.”** Young me sneers at him, turning my head away because I can’t move. 

**“You're done. Why don’t you sit down and wait for your cousin.”** The woman who did my robes gestures to the seat Draco was sitting in before. Young me huffs and sits in the seat. 

To my surprise, the screen goes black and when it turns back on, young Pansy with her short dark brown hair is skipping down the street. Why didn’t it show Draco and I meeting Potter? I was confused, wasn’t that important? Perhaps it wasn’t since Draco is rude to him anyways at Hogwarts. 

There’s a look of shock on Draco’s face as well but also a bit of relief. I guess this Samantha person didn’t think Potter and Draco meeting was that interesting. It was really just the same as with Hannah; Draco was a jerk and I was just berating him. 

Young Pansy is carrying a couple of books in her arms and a bag hangs off one of her arms. Pansy next to me sinks lower in her seat and I fumble to find her hand and when I do, I squeeze it. Young Pansy then bumps into someone but she doesn’t drop anything. 

**“Zabini. Watch where you’re going.”** Young Pansy snaps at the other boy who at the time had a mess of unruly black hair on top his head. 

**“Parkinson. And it was you that bumped into me.”** Young Blaise replies. 

Theo lets out a groan, “Ugh, your stupid rivalry. I can’t believe we have to watch it again. Why can’t you just kiss and make up already.” 

“If I remember correctly,” I say to Theo, “they get together in fourth year.” 

“But we were friends for a year before that.” Blaise adds in. 

Pansy looks at Blaise with disgust, “Then we got together. Which only lasted for a few months so it wasn’t that big of a deal.” 

Blaise nods, “Yeah, me and Draco were a bigger deal.” 

Draco snorts which he then covers with a laugh, “Please, anyone with two eyes could of seen us two dating a mile away. Besides, speaking as someone who had to watch for years you guys call each other by your last name, it was quite a shock.” 

“Remind you of someone, Dray?” I whisper to him and he swats me away though he looks more flustered than he was before. Thankfully, the Gryffindors weren't really paying attention to us though I knew that _someone_ would be surprised and upset (perhaps jealous) to find out Draco and Blaise dated. 

**“Pansy! Blaise!”** Younger me returns to the screen dragging a grumpy Draco behind me. In his hands is a cage covered by a blanket and I instantly know what's in it. 

**“Cass! How good to see you!”** She then turns to Draco, fluttering her eyelashes, **“Hiiii Dray.”**

“I forgot you had a crush on me in first year.” Draco says and Pansy slouches further in her seat. 

One of the Weasley twins, Fred I think, laughs, “You had a crush on gelled Malfoy?" 

Pansy pouts, “The only boys I knew were Blaise and Draco before Hogwarts and Draco was the only one who would have tea parties with me. Even though it took a while before he warmed up to them.” 

“Hey, you knew me!” Theo says and Vince and Greg join in too. 

“Still, out of all the boys here, Draco is the best looking. Even with his hair gelled back.” Pansy says and I have to agree though I knew many girls who would fight to say Blaise was the best looking. 

I snort, “Yeah, you either have a nice family but look bad or a terrible family but look good.” 

Draco sniggers into his hand, obviously thinking of a few people that fall into the first category when Pansy mumbles to me, “Granger got the best of both worlds.” 

I don’t say anything back. Thinking about it, there are plenty of people who got a good family and looks. Most of the Slytherins, well at least the purebloods, were in the second category. There were also a lot of ones that had the worst of both worlds. 

**“Um, hi Pansy.”** Young Draco replies, inching closer to me. 

**“What’s in there, mate?”** Blaise points to the cage and my brother and I’s younger selves grin. 

Younger me pulls off the blanket and inside the cage is a white cat and a black cat, **“Our new pets! This is mine, Diana, and that’s Draco’s, Persephone.”**

Pansy pets my cat who licks her hand while Blaise sticks his finger in the cage at Persephone. Persephone stares at the finger before snapping her jaws at it, almost biting the finger off. Blaise yells in fear and the screen goes black with the last picture being all of us making fun of Blaise. 

We all laugh and Blaise grumbles in his seat, “It’s not just me, Seph hates everyone except Draco.” 

“She tolerates me.” I say and I wish our cats were here so I could snuggle with Diana. She was always much friendlier than her fellow cat. It made sense though. The two misunderstood, cold ones who had a warm centre were together. 

Potter speaks up, “Well, should we get ready for our match? Or are you Slytherins too scared to lose?” 

That’s when I remember the Quidditch match. Draco smirks, “Oh, you’re on Potter.” 

Oh no, I fight the urge to groan again into my hands or call off the match, _this is going to be a disaster._ I glance over at the two boys who are in a deep staring contest, _a very gay disaster._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Valentines Day everyone! Hopefully you guys are spending time with your loved one/s but if you're reading fanfiction (like me) today then you're probably single. Oh well... 
> 
> This seems pretty similar to my other HP fanfic but I just want to say that they are both AU’s with Cass which is why they have the same backstory. In both of them, Cass forges a rejection letter from Beauxtrons so she can go to Hogwarts. She meets Hannah in both and Draco and her get the same cats. It will change later on because in the other fanfic, Cass makes the Slytheirns be nice while in this one, she tries but is mean herself. This fanfic shows more how the Slytherins would act because they still are mean with each other but jokingly while in the other fanfic, it’s more like ‘we care and love each other’. 
> 
> It will change once they get to Hogwarts since Draco still bullies Harry in this one but in the other one, he doesn’t. Also, Cass is still kind of mean but I feel like the SLytherins are closer in this book since in the other au, Cass and Draco also have the golden trio. 
> 
> I didn’t show Draco and Cass meeting Harry because I couldn’t find the script from the book of what he says to Harry and I was too lazy to make it up lol. 
> 
> I don't know if I mentioned last chapter but Vincent is still alive in this bc i forgot he died (oops) so I'm just saying he was found later and had very bad burns from the fire. (perhaps he couldn't die bc he casted it and can only be controlled by him?)
> 
> The Quidditch match will be the first thing in the next chapter and I will probably make Slytherin win their match but who do you want to win the other match? Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff?
> 
> Also, do you guys want Draco and Cass to be metamorphosis like in my other fanfic? Or veela or animagus or something like that? Let me know in the comments :) 
> 
> ALSO, if there are any characters that you would like to be heard more (I'll do more Neville ofc) or if I'm missing any, let me know! I've kind of forgotten about Luna and Ginny and other younger years bc I orignally thought I didn't include them since they don't appear until next year but then I remember in the second chapter, Cass, Harry and Draco got them so idk. 
> 
> Bye!  
> Gabby

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this book. I will update soon!
> 
> Leave kudos, comments, questions and bookmarks! Thanks for reading!
> 
> This book is on fanfiction.net under the account turtle.dove.x and the fanfic is called 'I told our story to the stars (and that was the first time they cried). And it on wattpad under the account TillyJellyfishFox713 and under the same name (all my fanfics are on wattpad as well) 
> 
> Gabby :)


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